My Little Pony: A New Apple
by seniorcopycat
Summary: Worlds begin to collide when Applejack discovers a strange creature from another world and quickly makes him apart of the Apple Family, naming him Johnny Appleseed. But as Johnny grows up he quickly notices the differences between him and his adopted family and seeks to learn about his true parents, where he came from and who he really is.
1. Chapter 1

**My Little Pony: A New Apple**

**Chapter 1**

It was just another peaceful day in Equestria, and an even more peaceful day down in Ponyville, where its citizens continued to enjoy their carefree lives in the sun and continued their individual jobs like every other day. Speaking of working, down on Sweet Apple Acres, the Earth Pony known as Applejack of the Apple family was currently bucking and hauling buckets of apples to her hearts content. She sighed.

"Ah… what a day…" The farm pony expressed to herself.

"Applejack!"

Applejack ears stood up once she heard her Granny calling out to her and quickly trotted over to her old grandmother, who was currently rocking in her rocking chair.

"Yeah, Granny? What's up?" Applejack asked.

"Applejack, I was wondering if you could do that… that involving the Zap… something…" Granny muttered, her memory failing her.

"You mean the Zap Apple trees?" Applejack guessed.

"No, that's not it… oh wait! Yes, it is!" Granny said. "Yes, could you handle that?"

"Sure as sugar, Granny" Applejack smiled. "I'm already on it."

"Thank you, young'un." Granny smiled before giving her a little map, along with her saddle bag. "Here's where you can find that orchard, you know how it is to locate sometimes.

"Indeed I do, Granny." AJ nodded, tipping her hat. "See ya later."

Granny Smith waved to Applejack as she turned and made her away toward the place where the Zap Apples were currently located.

* * *

><p>Later, Applejack soon found herself trotting through to innards of the Everfree Forest, watching as shadows and tricks of the light danced around her.<p>

The Zap Apple tree orchard had been partially destroyed after a fire was lit by a ravaging gang of teen, zit faced colts who were looking for a good place to stick their snout into and cause lots of trouble a few weeks ago.

Now, following Granny Smith's directions, she was forced to venture into the woods to find some more Zap Apples and get their seeds so the Apple family could have some Zap Apple Jam when the time of year came around.

She looked down at the scribbled directions form Granny Smith, Applejack wasn't even sure if half the shapes on the paper were either doodles or actual letters, but she tired her best to unscramble the cryptic hoof writing.

Applejack wondered if she had made a mistake a while back. The trees were growing closer together, and she had yet to see an animal in about ten minutes. Not to mention, she was starting to feel like she had gotten lost.

"Aw shoot… I wish Granny had come with better instructions then this…" she muttered to herself. "Now where is that gosh darn orchard anyways?"

The orange pony continued to look around every nook and cranny and past every tree that was in front of her but it was soon clear to her that she was undeniably, unquestionably, totally _lost_.

"It's gotta be around here somewhere, I mean it's not like it just…" Applejack began.

Then a strange noise was heard far off yet close by. Now she was starting to get scared. Her eyes spun widely around at the surroundings looking for its source.

"What _was_ that?" she wondered. "Hello! Apple Bloom you better not be sneaking up on me ya hear?"

More sounds then began to go off all over the forest, especially in the deeper parts of the Everfree forest and as they continued, Applejack's fear grew and no amount of words or comfort could stop her from shaking fearfully.

And the sudden crying didn't help at all.

Loud wails carried across the wind, meeting Applejack's ears and surprising her greatly.

"What the…?" Applejack remarked, she then listened closely. "Is that… a _baby_?"

As she tried to get over the thought of a baby being all alone out there, she shivered as a cool breeze blew over her coat and whoever or whatever was crying continued to wail.

"Be-better go check that noise out-t." The farm pony said, stuttering.

And so she slowly made her way towards the noise, scared and curious of what she might find.

* * *

><p>Applejack soon found herself in a slightly shady part of the forest, with sunlight shining from the cracks behind the trees. There was a soft grassy pathway between the thick trees on the left and right and darkness behind them. She glanced around but saw nopony there, just a breeze.<p>

"Uh… hello?" Applejack called out. Nopony answered her. "Anypony here?"

The farm pony continued to gaze around, cautiously minding her surroundings. The crying seemed to have stopped but she knew deep in her heart, that it came from around there.

She was stopped by something unusual; a stray wooden basket just sitting there in the middle of the forest surrounding by shady trees but with some light still shining on it.

"Now what do we have here?" Applejack muttered to herself, as she approached the basket.

Once she got close enough and stopped at the basket she could hear the cries coming from the basket clearly and could also see something small, roughly about the size of a puppy, with four limbs wiggling around and crying underneath what appeared to be a red blanket.

"What the hay?" Applejack remarked, baffled.

She then pulled away the red blanket off the wiggling creature and was greatly surprised by what she found underneath.

The creature had no fur, except for the small amount of top of its head and was very flesh, it possessed a small muzzle, blue eyes and had little 'thing's on the end of each of its hooves. It also appeared to be two legged. The creature also only wore a single diaper and she assumed it to be a male due to observation though she wasn't fully sure.

"Huh?" Applejack said, raising a brow in confusion. The creature imitated her surprised expression and made a 'Huh' like sound as well.

The farm pony didn't know what to do, she was completely lost in thought while the little creature before her just blinked at her with a blank expression of its face.

Applejack continued to stare at the creature befuddled and he continued to stare stared back at her. Eventually Applejack decided to try and say something.

"Uh… howdy there little feller." Applejack waved to the creature nervously, who just blinked at her again and didn't responded. "What are _you_ doing out here, anyway? And more importantly… what in Equestria _are_ you?"

It became quickly apparent to Applejack that the creature could not talk, only babble unintelligibly at her. Applejack continued to look at in confusion, then leaned down to inspect him a little more, she sniffed him a bit touched his chubby little body with her hoof, which made him giggle a bit before he sneezed and she yelped and quickly backed away.

"Hey!" She said, a bit disgusted as she wiped her muzzle.

The creature stared at her again then laughed and reached out towards her playfully.

"Uh, ok…" Applejack said, slowly unsure of what to do. The creature then began shivering due to the slight breeze and Applejack couldn't bear to see him like that. "Better get you into the sun."

Applejack then picked the creature up using her teeth and grabbing onto the edge of his diaper. His eyes widened as he stared at her while she gently placed him on the ground. He then struggled to try and reach out to her with his chubby little arms. She backed away a bit.

"Whoa, easy their partner… I don't want hurt you… and I _think_ you don't want to hurt me…" Applejack said. The creature then lowered its arms and tilted its head toward her in a cute manner. "Aw… you are a cute little feller ain't ya?"

Applejack ruffled the fur on his head and he giggled a bit. Applejack smiled at him, then her smile faded.

"So… what am I gonna do with ya, anyway?" Applejack asked him. "Can't just leave ya out here… but I can't just take ya home without knowing if your parents are around and without knowing what in Equestria you are…"

The farm pony thought for a bit while the little creature continued to stare at her before being distracted by a blue butterfly which seemed to make it smile.

"Maybe Twilight knows something about you…" she wondered. "Yeah! She'll know something! Come on ya little scamp, let's go see a Princess!"

Applejack then took the giggling creature by the edge of his diaper again and carefully placed him into her saddle bag where he fit half way in, with his head and arms sticking out. She then began to trot out of the forest.

She then looked back and noticed the red blanket still hanging on the basket and after a moment of thought she grabbed it with her teeth and placed it on her back, before trotting away with the strange creature in her bag.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: This is sort of an Alternate Reality, where the events of Equestria Girls never happened. BTW t<strong><strong>his chapter uses bits of inspiration and references from various forms of media that I like, admire and honor but I do not own them. This is not for profit, it is merely for fun. No flames please and thank you.<strong>****


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Pretty soon, Applejack was already on her way to Princess Twilight's castle in search of answers. As she made her way to the castle, she did her best not to get spotted by anypony with the creature, worried that they might be scared or hate him or bombard her with questions that she didn't know the answers to. While she did her best not to be seen, the little creature in her bag continued to stare at everything with curious eyes and a smile on his face, he especially appreciated seeing all the nature around them and the little animals scurrying by

After a while, the farm pony finally reached the Friendship Rainbow castle, which resembled a crystal like tree with multiple levels, a great balcony, two spires, and a tower. The structure also had a large banner flying on the side marked with Twilight Sparkle's cutie mark, and the top bears a large crystal star. At the foot was a great golden staircase for the two-leaved golden door that she was approaching. Two open lancet windows flank the door. Applejack remembered it as the gift given to them for defeating Tirek six months ago and to this day she felt proud of her friend.

Applejack then knocked on the castle door. "Uh… Twilight? You in there? I need to talk to you about something."

The door to the castle soon opened and the Princess of Friendship herself, Princess Twilight Sparkle, appeared. "Hey Applejack, what's the matter? Is everything alright?"

"Well… you see… I was kind hoping you could help me with something," she said.

"Help with what?" Twilight Sparkle asked, raising a brow.

"Figuring out what a… certain something is…" Applejack replied, slowly. She then turned a bit and glanced to the small, little creature in her saddle back who turned to Twilight and blinked at her. Twilight yelped at the sight of him.

"What… what _is_ that?" Twilight questioned, completely baffled as she looked at the little creature a little bit closer.

"I was kinda hoping _you_ knew…" Applejack confessed.

"To be honest I don't have the slightest idea…" Twilight admitted as she and the creature continued to stare at each other, then he suddenly put his chubby little hands on her muzzle. "Hey… what?"

The creature then began to feel her face with a curious look, which made her smile. "Aw, he's so cute…" she said. "Say… _is_ he a boy?"

"I think so, but I ain't gonna be the one checking!" Applejack stated, firmly.

"Hey, you were the one who found him." Twilight pointed out.

"Yeah, but I …" Applejack began to say.

"No 'buts' Applejack, until we can figure out what this is and where he came from he's _your_ responsibility so…" Twilight began to say before the creature poked one his _things_ into her nose, making her yelp and pull her head away from it. "Gah!"

Upset that she had pulled away from him, the creature then began to wail loudly again, which hurt their ears.

"Ah! What do we do!?" Twilight cried.

"Uh… hold on." Applejack said as she took off her saddle bag, placed it on the ground, then sat down to pick up the crying creature and rock it in her forearms, gently, she shushes it softly. "There ya go…"

The creature soon stopped his crying and became calm, staring at Applejack who smiled at him with a motherly smile.

"Wow Applejack, you're a natural." Twilight marveled.

"Yeah… spent a lot of time doing this when Apple Bloom was born." Applejack admitted. "He kinda reminds me of her a little…"

Applejack rubbed his cheek with her hoof a bit and he giggled a bit.

"I think he likes you." Twilight smiled.

"Oh yeah? You think so?" Applejack asked, surprised.

"Yeah, he calmed right down for you." Twilight pointed out.

"Yeah… he did…" Applejack realized.

"But where did he _come_ from?" Twilight wondered.

"I don't know, I just found him in the middle of the forest, inside a wooden basket, covered up by… this." Applejack said as she held out the red blanket. Twilight took it with her magic and examined it.

"Interesting…" Twilight mused. "It looks to be hoof-stitched…"

"You mean someone made it for him?" Applejack questioned, surprised.

"It is a possibility…" Twilight said with a thoughtful expression. "I just hope this doesn't turn out like the Parasprite infestation. Remember when _Fluttershy_ brought back something that looked cute from the Everfree forest?"

"Oh, come on now Twi, look at him! He's harmless, plus we can't just leave him out there!" Applejack stated, firmly.

"I never said we should, I'm just saying that we need to be careful about this, ok?" Twilight told her.

"Yeah, ok…" Applejack nodded. She then noticed the little guy shivering again. "He's cold…"

"Come on, let's get him inside then." Twilight said as she magically pushed the door open and they both proceeded inside.

* * *

><p>Later, inside the castle, Applejack and Twilight were both in the castle throne room, which had seven thrones each marked with the cutie mark of Twilight and Applejack's friends, plus their own. In the center of it sat the little creature, who was babbling, looking around and trying to figure out what was going on while the two mares near him observed him.<p>

"Wow! A new species in Equestria never before seen by pony eyes. This is amazing!" Twilight said, excitedly.

"Calm down Twi, like you said; we need to be cautious about this." Applejack reminded her.

"Oh right." Twilight nodded. "Sorry."

"So what do we know so far?" Applejack asked.

"Not much… I've looked over all my books on foreign species and found nothing, and I have feeling we won't find any more luck in the Canterlot Archives." Twilight sighed.

"Ah, shoot…" Applejack grumbled, dismayed.

Twilight put a comforting hoof on her shoulder, then glanced to the little creature just sitting on the floor of the castle throne room, sucking his thumb looking absolutely carefree.

"Well, I can safely determine _one_ thing, whatever he is… he seems to be an infant." Twilight observed, glancing at the child who continued to crawl around the floor in complete a circle. "About nine months old to be exact."

"Yeah… that's fairly obvious Twi, but we still don't know _what_ he is or what those… _things_ are at the end of his hooves." Applejack pointed out.

"Hmm, I think he uses them to hold onto things, like when he grabbed my face." Twilight said, rubbing her nose.

"I wonder what else he can grab?" Applejack wondered, curiously.

"Should we test him?" Twilight wondered.

"Worth a shot." Applejack shrugged.

The two mares then turned to the baby creature who was happily making bubbles in his mouth. Applejack frowned, walked over and popped the bubble with her hoof which the baby creature quickly grabbed and stared at her wide eyed as he started playing with it. Applejack was a bit disgusted when he stuck her hoof into his mouth and sucked on it but she slowly smiled fondly as he continued to stare at her with his big blue eyes. She turned to Twilight and nodded

"Ok, little guy, let's see if you can grab this." Applejack as she lifted her hoof while Twilight levitated an apple onto it which she handed to the boy. The child stared and blinked at the apple for a bit when smiled and let out a cute sound and as he grabbed it and stuck it in his mouth. Because he had no teeth he just sucked and licked the apple like a lollipop.

"Interesting…" Princess Twilight said as she magically wrote what she saw on a floating notepad. "Let's try something else now."

Twilight placed several items in front of the infant; a squeaky stuffed turtle toy, a bar of soap, a wooden monkey and a drum. The baby stared and mumbled a bit as he stared at the toys. Then he picked up the toy turtle and laughed as he squeezed it and made it squeak, he also took the wooden monkey and shook it up and down while laughing. He then dropped both of them and tried to grab the bar of soap but seemed frustrated when he could not, then he started happily patting the drum in front of him. As he did so Twilight continued to write everything down with glee.

"Incredible, it seems with those… 'things', he can grab almost anything!" Princess Twilight said, impressed. "Please he's pretty smart, too."

"Still doesn't tell us what he is." Applejack said, depressed.

"Hmm, I'm gonna try a magical scan on him." Twilight declared.

"A magical scan?" Applejack echoed.

"Yes. With it I can learn more about him and what he is." Twilight said.

"Ok just… be careful with him will ya?" Applejack asked Twilight, worried. "I don't want to see him hurt…"

"Don't worry, I won't hurt him." Twilight assured her as she walked forward and faced the child who continue to babble and gaze around. Then when Twilight' horn start to glow with magic he seemed to be mesmerized by it. He then watched her as she walked all the way around him, shining the light from her horn onto him. This continued for a while and as it did the little boy kept trying to reach out to the light she was shining while Applejack watched.

"Well?" Applejack asked, expectedly. "What do ya got?"

"Hmm, he seems to have most the same organs as a pony and body structure similar to that of a monkey… but brain and muscle capacity seem to have the potential to much greater than a pony's…!" Twilight realized, surprised. "He might even be able to walk on _two_ legs instead of four when he's older."

"Wow, guess you would make quite an excellent little applebucker when your grown up, huh?" Applejack remarked as she ruffled the little guy's hair gently. "By the way, is there any chance that we could find a way to send him back to where he belongs? His parents must be worried sick."

"I wish I knew _how_, but without knowing _exactly_ where he's from it's almost impossible…" Twilight sighed, sadly.

"You mean… this little guy might be stuck in Equestria forever?" Applejack asked, sounding upset.

"That might very well be the case." Twilight replied, solemnly.

Applejack sighed and sat down next to the creature before rubbing his head. "Sorry little guy…"

The little creature didn't seem to fully understand why Applejack was so upset but decided to hug her side with an affectionate giggle, this surprised Applejack a bit but she soon smiled and gladly accepted. Then a foul smell coming from the creature reached her, and eventually Twilight's, noses and made her eyes widen.

"Ooh, looks like somepony needs a diaper change…" Applejack remarked, holding her nose in disgust.

Twilight held her nose as well. "Oh… I think your right…" she agreed. "So… whose gonna go change it?"

Applejack sighed. "I'll do it."

"You sure?" Twilight asked, concerned.

"Yeah, he's _my_ responsibility after all." Applejack sighed as she walked forward and picked up the sticky baby before zipping into another room to change him. After a long pause Twilight began to hear a verity of noises and crashing sounds coming from the other room, causing her to worry.

"Uh… Applejack? Are you ok?" Twilight called out to her.

Applejack then came out of the room with the little creature on her back, she looked completely exhausted and disgusted.

"Well, diaper's been changed… plus _I_ can safely confirm… it's a boy." Applejack said, looking weary.

"Sorry…" Twilight told her, sympathetically.

"It's ok… I… I'm used to it… remember? Apple Bloom?" Applejack reminded her. "Course… this is the first time I've done a boy so… yeah…"

The little guy giggle and pulled her mane a bit, causing her to rear up.

"Whoa!" she cried out, alarmed. She then put her front hooves down. "Easy there, little guy. You don't want to take this pony for a ride."

The baby then started crying again, much to their chagrin.

"Oh alright…" Applejack relented as she reared up again and began to gallop around the room while he giggled. Eventually Applejack joined in as well while Twilight watched them, smiling. She then remembered a similar thing she used to do with her big brother; Shining Armor AKA her BBBFF, she wiped away a tear that had formed while she became nostalgic. Eventually Applejack stopped running.

"Alright that's enough for now, just play with your new toys." Applejack told the child as she placed him down in front of the toys and let him play with them as she walked over to Twilight and watched him.

"He really _does_ like you." Twilight remarked.

"Yeah, kind of reminded me of the days when Apple Bloom was still just a baby… boy I miss those days…" Applejack sighed.

"Yeah… I've kind of always wanted a younger sibling or a child of my own." Princess Twilight Sparkle admitted, fondly.

"I'll bet." Applejack smirked, before sighing and staring at the infant again. "Well, at least we learned _some_ things about him, but not enough…"

"Yeah… and you know as he gets older he'll realize how different he is and wonder just _what_ he is and _where_ he came from." Twilight Sparkle reminded her. "He'll want answers and we won't be able to answer them."

"I know…" Applejack said, depressed.

"But don't worry, I'll keep doing some research, we'll find _something_." Twilight assured her friend.

"Thank ya Twi." Applejack said, gratefully.

Just then, Twilight's baby dragon assistant, Spike, entered the room, not noticing the creature at first.

"Hey, Twilight! What's…" Spike began before he finally noticed the infant creature just sitting there. The infant then saw Spike also and stared at him with wide eyes. The two mares then acknowledged him.

"Oh hi, Spike!" Twilight Sparkle smiled. "What's up?

"Um… Twilight? What's _that_ thing?" Spike asked, pointing at the giggling baby.

"That _thing_ is a_ boy_, Spike, and a baby, just like you." Twilight told him.

"Huh." Spike remarked as he and the infant stared at each other again. Spike then slowly waved. "Uh… hey there. How's it going?"

The baby squealed happily, held his arms out and grabbed Spike, pulling him into a tight bear hug that he could not escape from easily.

"Uh… Twilight? He's _hugging_ me… and won't let go…" The baby dragon said, as he squeezed harder. The two mares chuckled.

Twilight turned to Applejack. "Hey, should we tell the others?"

"Might as well, they have a right to know about this." Applejack pointed out. "Besides, I'll bet Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy would _love_ the chance to see this little guy."

"They sure _will_." Twilight Sparkle smiled as the little creature continued to squeeze Spike tightly, much to the Dragon's dismay.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It didn't long for Twilight to get the baby to stop hugging Spike and then get him to send a message to each of their friends, informing them to come to the castle right away to discuss an important topic. Within a couple minutes or so their friends, the loyal Rainbow Dash, the generous Rarity, the kind Fluttershy and the always laughable Pinkie Pie soon appeared in the castle.

"Ok, we're here." Rainbow announced. "What's the emergency?"

"Is everypony ok?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"Did somepony's outfit get ripped?" Rarity added, even more worried.

"Did a party get crashed!?" Pinkie exclaimed, freaking out.

Twilight and Applejack then stepped forward. "No, it's not _that_ serious…" The Princess said, slowly. "We just found something very interesting and we thought you should all see up close."

"See what?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"Well…" Twilight began, unsure of how to say it. "Uh… Applejack? Could you bring him in here?"

"Sure." AJ nodded, before she turned and left the room.

"Uh… bring _who_ here?" Rainbow asked them.

"Is there somepony else here?"

"Yes… though he's not exactly a _pony_ per say…" Twilight admitted.

"Oh! Then what is he?" Fluttershy questioned, curiously.

Pinkie Pie then got very close to her and looked very excited. "Is it a new playmate!?"

"Sort of…" Twilight said, slowly.

They all turned and soon noticed Applejack walking over with the little bare and blue eyed creature sitting on her back and sucking his thumb.

"Tada." Applejack smiled, sheepishly as the little boy on her back turned and blinked at them. They all gasped, surprised.

"Well…" Rarity started to say.

"That's uh…" Fluttershy began.

"Yeah, it's freaky looking that's for sure." Rainbow interjected, nodding.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded.

"Well it _is!_ I mean… what exactly _is_ it anyway?" Rainbow Dash questioned, looking him over.

"_He's_ a _baby_ RD, simple as that." Applejack stated, somewhat annoyed, as she placed him down on the ground near her and rubbed his head affectionately.

"A _baby_ huh?" Rainbow remarked. Upon realizing this the others then began see how cute he was and smiled brightly.

"Oh, he's _adorable_!" Rarity gushed.

"Yeah, he's the cutest thing _ever_!" Fluttershy agreed.

"Hey, haven't we learned our lesson about 'cute' things?" Rainbow pointed out.

"Oh, _please_ don't bring up the Parasprites again…" Rarity sighed.

"I'm just saying…" Rainbow said, before Pinkie quickly got in front of the baby and hide herself.

"Where's Pinkie Pie?" The pink party pony said before she popped up. "Here I am!"

The baby laughed at that, Pinkie then hide herself again.

"Where's Pinkie Pie?" Pinkie said before she popped up once again. "Here I am!"

The baby giggled once more Pinkie Pie grabbed him, rolled onto her back and held up high with her hooves as she laughed as well. The others joined in the laughing as well, course Rainbow Dash still looked suspicious.

"Well, I see you've taken a liking to him, Pink." Applejack remarked.

"You bet! He's an awesome play mate!" Pinkie beamed.

"That goes without saying." Twilight agreed, amused. "Babies are usually very playful things and this one, despite him being another type of creature, is certainly no different."

"Got that right, aren't you a playful little one, aren't you?" Applejack said to the baby affectionately as she picked him up and held him close while tickling him and making him laugh.

Rainbow then noticed just how much Applejack was nuzzling and comforting the infant in her forelegs and frowned a bit.

"Uh… AJ? Are you sure you're not getting too attached?" Rainbow Dash asked her, concerned.

"What? Is that a bad thing?" Applejack questioned, sounding insulted.

"I'm just saying its… well just look at him! He's not a pony!" Rainbow Dash pointed out. "We gotta find a way to send him back!"

"Rainbow, we don't even know if his parents are still around or not." Applejack stated, firmly.

"Nor do we know how to get him back." Twilight added.

"You mean he's stuck here?" Fluttershy asked, worried.

"Seems like…" Applejack said, sadly.

"Oh, the poor thing…" Rarity said, sympathetically.

"Yeah, what about his family?" Pinkie asked, worried.

"We don't know." The farm pony said, her eyes staring at the ground. "There was no note, no sign of anypony being there… nothing. It's like they just left him there…"

"Oh, the poor thing!" Fluttershy said, sadly, feeling greatly sorry for the little guy.

"I still think we should find a way to send him home." Rainbow Dash stated.

"Twilight already said we don't know how to do that!" Applejack reminded her.

"We'll find a way!" Rainbow Dash insisted.

"I won't risk leaving him on his own again, Rainbow!" Applejack told her, stubbornly. "Not when I can protect him!"

"But what if he's dangerous!?" Rainbow Dash proclaimed.

"Does he look _dangerous_ to you?" Applejack stated as she held the infant in front of Rainbow, who stared at the baby giggled at her. She looked into his eyes and saw no malice in them anywhere.

Rainbow sighed. "No… but that doesn't mean that…" she began before the little guy started to grab onto her mane. "Hey!"

The baby the stroked her head and moved his hands all over her muzzle and face, which seemed to tickle her a bit as she then took him from Applejack's hooves and smiled.

"Hey, cut that out!" Rainbow giggled as she continued to laugh.

The others all laughed in amusement as Rainbow Dash continued to play with the little guy and tickle him.

"So, do still think he's dangerous Rainbow Dash?" Rarity inquired, smirking.

"Well… I guess he's not so bad once you get used to him." Rainbow admitted, as she nuzzled him affectionately before he suddenly started crying. Her face then fell. "And… I'm wrong."

Everypony held their ears as his crying continued to and echoed throughout the entire castle. They tried and tried to block it out but the crying continued to hurt their ears and drive them nuts.

"Oh, make it stop!" Pinkie Pie cried.

"Rock him to sleep or something!" Rainbow shouted.

"Something tells me the same trick ain't gonna work twice!" Applejack said, distressed.

"So what are we supposed to do!?" Fluttershy wondered, stressed.

Twilight thought long and hard, what else did babies need? Warmth, comfort… then it finally hit her like a sack of bricks.

"He's hungry!" Twilight realized.

"Then get him some food!" Rainbow Dash cried.

"Got it! Spike!" Twilight called out.

The little dragon walked over, holding his ears also. "Yeah?"

"Could you get some food from the kitchen, please?" she asked him. "This little guy is pretty hungry…"

"Well it get him to be quiet?" Spike grumbled.

"Hopefully…" Twilight gulped.

"I'm on it!" Spike saluted before he quickly ran off while the baby continued to cry.

"Ooh, I haven't heard crying this loud since Sweetie Belle was born!" Rarity proclaimed.

Applejack then took the baby and attempted rocking him again. "Come on, come on, stop your crying, we'll get you some food so you don't worry…" she assured him. "Everything's gonna be just fine, alright?"

The baby continued to cry but seemed somewhat comforted by her words. Then Spike came running back over to them.

"Ok, I got something!" Spike said as he held up a familiar apple.

"Hey… isn't that the apple he sucked on?" Twilight inquired.

"Ew…" Rarity said, disgusted.

"Who cares!? Just feed it to him and make him stop crying already!?" Rainbow exclaimed.

"He doesn't have any teeth RD!" Applejack stated.

"So how do we feed them then?" Rarity questioned, distressed.

"Ooh! I know!" Pinkie Pie said.

Pinkie then took the apple from Spike and placed it on the floor before crushing it with her hoof and turning into mush.

"There! Mashed apples!" she beamed.

"Great work, Pinkie!" Applejack congratulated her. "Now to get him fed!"

"Got it!" The princess said. "Spike?"

The baby dragon then held up a spoon. "Way ahead of you," he smiled.

Twilight then took the spoon with her magic, scooped up some of the mashed apples and lifted it up.

"Ok, here comes the train…" Twilight said, sweetly as she guided the spoon full of mashed apples into his gummy mouth. The baby seems to enjoy it and giggled a bit, causing some of the food to fall out of his mouth which Twilight scooped up and placed back in his mouth. "Ok, I think he's fed."

"Good, now there's just one more thing left to do." Fluttershy said as she took him and patted him on the back, causing him to burp. "There all better."

"Thanks, Fluttershy." Applejack said, as she took him back and rocked him a bit before placing him back on the ground. "You're a lifesaver."

"Not a problem." Fluttershy blushed.

"Well… there's still one problem we need to sort out." Rainbow pointed out.

"What's that?" Spike asked her.

Rainbow gestured to the baby currently rolling from side to side on the floor, giggling happily. They all loom over him.

"What are _we_ supposed to do with a _baby_?" Rainbow questioned, bluntly.

"Ooh! Can we keep him!?" Pinkie asked, excited.

"Pinkie, we can't just _keep him_… can we?" Twilight inquired.

"Well he doesn't exactly have anywhere else to go." Applejack pointed out.

"And we can't take him back to where you found him…" Fluttershy added, concerned.

"Well I don't think he can stay _here_, I already have enough trouble looking after _Spike_ as it is" Princes Twilight Sparkle said, stressed.

"Yeah, well he can't stay with me, he's not a Pegasus so he probably can't walk on clouds." Rainbow pointed out. "He'd fall right through my home if he stayed."

"I'd take him, but… I think the Cakes would say that it's already pretty crowded at Sugarcube Corner…" Pinkie admitted.

"And I am simply too busy to watch over a child, I can barely make dresses with just _Sweetie Belle_ around!" Rarity expressed.

"I'd love to take in him for a little while! But… with all my animals living there also…" Fluttershy began.

"Aw, come on! You're a _great_ caretaker, you could totally take care of him!" Rainbow Dash told her. "You too Rarity, you have some experience dealing with little kids, remember?"

Rarity gasped. "Oh, don't try and force him on _me_!"

"I'm not! I'm just saying!" Rainbow stated. "Plus, don't try to weasel out of it!"

"She's not trying to 'weasel out of it' Rainbow, she has her reasons, we all do!" Twilight said, sternly.

"Yeah, really _lame_ reasons, _mine_ actually make sense!" Rainbow told them.

"And _our_ don't!?" Rarity questioned.

"No they do not!" Rainbow exclaimed.

The three of them then began to start arguing, much to the dismay of their other friends.

"Oh dear…" Fluttershy said, sadly.

"Help us…" Spike whimpered.

"Ooh, this is getting good!" Pinkie commented as she took out some popcorn and started enjoying the show.

While everyone continued to argue and worry, the baby in the center of them watched blankly, unaware of what they were talking about. Then he noticed that the front door to the castle had been accidently left open, liking the cool air and sunny weather outside he began to crawl toward it. At the same time, Applejack's eyes gazed to side looking concerned, like she wanted to say something, but couldn't work up the nerve for some reason. Then after a bit, she finally did decide to say something.

"Well I…" Applejack started to say to them before Rainbow noticed something.

"Hey… where'd the little kid go?" she asked, confused. The others looked around and much to their shock and horror, the little baby was gone. They all screamed.

"He's _gone_!" Pinkie exclaimed, dramatically.

"But… but he was just here a minute ago!" Twilight gasped.

"Oh no, this is bad… this is bad…" Applejack said, looking around extremely worried. "I should have never have taken my eyes off of him…"

"This isn't your fault, Applejack." Twilight assured her, comfortingly.

"Yes, it is." Applejack stated, firmly. "Like you said;_ I_ found him, _I'm_ responsible for whatever he does _or_ whatever happens to him… and now I have to _find _him…"

"_We_ have to find him." Twilight Sparkle stated, firmly with everypony else nodding in agreement.

Applejack smiled, touched. "Aw, thanks gals. To be honest I could use a little help."

"Of course you could!" Rainbow Dash smiled, proudly. "Now does anypony have any idea which way he could have gone?"

They all looked left and right for any trace of the boy, and then finally, Twilight noticed something up ahead.

"Look! The door is open!" Twilight cried, gesturing to the clearly open front door.

Rarity gasped. "He must have crawled outside when while we talking!"

"Boy, that kid is _fast_!" Pinkie remarked.

"Not as fast as me!" Rainbow Dash declared before she quickly flew off.

"Come on everypony, we have to find him!" Twilight told them all as they all ran off.

* * *

><p>The Mane Six and Spike then began searching all over the grassy landscape, looking for the child, hoping that he was ok but so far, even with all of them wandering around together and looking they still couldn't find him.<p>

"Here, baby! Here, baby, baby, where are you?" Pinkie Pie called out.

"Pinkie, he's not a dog." Spike stated, annoyed.

"Huh, and here I thought he was just some kind of naked dog…" Pinkie Pie remarked, surprised. She shrugged. "Oh well."

"Why would you… never mind." Spike shook his head. "Just keep looking, ok?"

"Ok!" Pinkie chirped as they continued searching.

"Just FYI; it's a sign of bad parenting when you _lose_ the baby!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.

"Oh just button and look for him!" Applejack told her, harshly.

"Maybe we should ask someone?" Fluttershy suggested.

"I think if somepony had saw him, we'd probably be hearing shrieks by now." Rainbow Dash stated, flatly.

"Oh… right…" Fluttershy admitted, while lowering her head sadly.

"Well, it couldn't hurt." Twilight shrugged. "So who should we ask?"

They all looked around for anypony nearby and then spotted Dr. Whooves, who just happened to be walking by.

"What about that guy?" Pinkie asked. "You know, the Doctor!"

"Who?" Rainbow asked, confused.

"Him!" The party pony said, gesturing to Whooves.

"Worth a shot." Applejack said as Twilight approached him.

"Uh… excuse me? Did you happen to see something resembling a hairless little monkey wearing a diaper crawl by here just now?" Twilight inquired.

"Monkey huh? Hmm… well I can't say I have, but maybe you'll find something closer to the Everfree Forest, a lot of little creatures tend to go there." Doctor Whooves replied.

"Ok, that's a start. Come on, this way girls!" Princess Twilight told them as she ran off ahead and they all trotted right after her. Unbeknownst to any of them, they had completely missed the child for he had been hiding inside a thick bush the whole time. He poked his head out, looked around curiously then spotted another blue butterfly flying close by making him giggle. As it began to fly off toward town, the baby then began to happily crawl after it whilst heading straight for Ponyville.

* * *

><p>While the girls searched in the wrong direction, the baby boy continued to make his way through town, where everypony was currently enjoying going about their everyday routines as usual and were also conversing amongst themselves until they noticed something entering the village. To them it was the freakiest thing they've ever seen and despite its giggling and happy face they all gasped and started screaming and heading for their homes like the used to do when Zecora first appeared.<p>

The baby, blissfully unaware of the effects he was having on the ponies scampering and screaming in terror around him then snorted, a bubble of snot coming out of his nose.

A mare by the name of Derpy screeched as she tried to backpedal through the air. Her clumsiness had nearly gotten her on a crash course with the baby, who was still crawling along happily. She landed on the ground and slowly screeched to a stop in front of him.

Derpy screamed as her wing popped the baby's booger bubble. The goo from it covered her wing, and Derpy flapped away shrieking into a nearby cottage.

Just then, Lyra and Bon-Bon saw him as well and the shock caused them and collide with Berry Punch and Roseluck. They groaned as they got up, then noticed the little baby in front of them.

"Gah!" he happily squealed.

They screamed and sprinted away in total fear.

The baby then began to crawl intently, its gait reaching the speed of a normal pony walking.

He was squirming right by the spa when Aloe exited the shop. She looked down at the baby, who suddenly clamped down on her leg with his toothless gums. He looked up at her and blinked once.

Aloe fainted as the baby released. He then left the unconscious spa pony in his wake and then continued his innocent rampage. The baby then noticed the blue butterfly from before and then began to happily follow it.

* * *

><p>Around the same time, the Mane Six and Spike were still searching for the kid but were having no such luck. They looked in every tree, bush and under every rock and crack but found no trace of him, for obvious reasons of course.<p>

"Ugh! This is getting ridiculous! We've been searching for almost an hour now! We'll_ never _find him!" Rainbow said, frustrated before they heard a scream nearby.

"Found him!" Pinkie Pie chirped. They all turned and quickly figured out that the screams were coming from their home.

"He's in Ponyville!" Twilight cried.

"Ooh… that's bad…" Fluttershy voiced.

"Yeah, and I think it's pretty obvious that he's been spotted." Rainbow Dad stated, deadpan.

"Then let's get over there!" Twilight declared.

"Yes, who knows what kind of trouble he could be in!" Rarity gasped.

"What if he's hurt, or sad, or scared!" Fluttershy whimpered.

"Or all the above." Spike pointed out, which freaked Fluttershy out even more.

"Spike!" Twilight scolded.

"Sorry… let's get going!" Spike told them.

"I'll race ya!" Pinkie chirped as she hopped on ahead, with everypony following her.

* * *

><p>By the time they had reached the town, the whole place was deserted. So deserted in fact that some of them actually expected a tumbleweed to roll by. They spotted one filly, but she was quickly pulled inside by her mother who slammed the door shut and locked it.<p>

"Ok… where is he?" Applejack wondered as they looked around for him. Spike was the first to notice something.

"Up there!" Spike pointed out. They all turned and much to their shock they saw the baby happily climbing across the roof, still giggling and following the blue butterfly.

"Oh, the baby's on the roof. I wonder…" Pinkie bean to say, casually before she suddenly gasped, shocked and then screamed. "THE BABY'S ON THE ROOF!?"

"How the heck did he get up on the _roof?_" Rainbow Dash questioned, incredulously.

"He must have _climbed_ up… using those boxes" Fluttershy said, noticing the big stack of wooden boxes next to the house that led up to the roof. They quickly noticed that he was nearing the edge of it. They gasped, again.

"He's going to fall off!" Rarity cried.

"Ok, somepony get him down and quick!" Applejack yelled, sounding very distressed.

"On it!" Rainbow declared as he flew forward, just as he reached the edge. He then went a little too far and began to fall off it, causing the girls to gasp in horror but Rainbow managed to catch him in a flash. "Gotcha!"

They all started clapping their hooves and cheering as Rainbow floated back to the ground with the baby safely.

"Great job, Rainbow!" Twilight congratulated.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Rainbow Dash said, proudly.

Applejack then rushed over. "Quick, let me see him? Is he alright?" she asked, worried.

"Yeah, he's ok. Here you go." Rainbow said as she gave him to her and she promptly held him close.

"It's ok little guy, you're safe now." Applejack assured him as he wrapped his arms around her neck tightly while she held him close. "It's ok… It's ok…"

"Come on, let's get out of here before ponies start asking as us questions." Twilight instructed.

"Right!" They all said before they all left town.

* * *

><p>It didn't take everypony long to get out of town before anypony could see them and as soon as the kid left, everypony then started coming out of their homes looking shaken. Meanwhile the ponies and their Dragon sidekick huffed and puffed as they tried to catch their breaths. The baby however, seemed to be enjoying himself and laughed happily.<p>

"Ok, now we've _saved_ him, what are we gonna _do_ with him?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, as I've said before… we don't know how to send him back and we can't take him back to where Applejack found him." Twilight state.

"So he can stay?" Applejack asked, hopefully.

"I'd have to ask Princess Celestia about it… but I don't see why not." Twilight Sparkle shrugged with a smile. "Yes. He can stay."

"Hooray!" Pinkie cheered.

"Oh, how wonderful!" Fluttershy beamed, she then gently ticked the little tyke's face with her hoof. "Welcome to Equestria little one."

Rarity happily gasped. "I just realized something!" she said.

"What's that?" Spike asked, curiously.

"With a new intelligent creature in Equestria… a great opportunity has just revealed itself!" she exclaimed.

"An opportunity?" Twilight echoed, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean an opportunity to make a whole new line of clothes that nopony has ever seen before and just for _him_!" Rarity declared, happily gesturing to the drooling baby. "Whoo! This is so exciting!"

The others all sighed. 'Typical Rarity' they all thought.

"So what do you think? Can I?" Rarity asked Twilight, eagerly.

"Well… I don't know anypony else that _will_ so…" Twilight began.

"Yes!" Rarity cheered, happily.

"And whose gonna take care of him?" Rainbow pointed out. "We already know that he can't stay with most of us, so…"

"_I'll_ take him." Applejack interjected. They all turned to her surprised.

"Really Applejack?" Fluttershy asked, stunned.

"You sure about this?" Spike added.

"Yeah, I know a thing or two about taking care of a baby, I took care of Apple Bloom most of her life after our folks passed away." Applejack pointed out. "I'm pretty sure I can handle this little guy."

"But you still don't know what he is!" Rainbow pointed out.

"Nor anything else about him for that matter." Rarity added.

"We're not saying you shouldn't…" Fluttershy began.

Pinkie Pie then popped up in front of her from out of nowhere. "We just want to know if you're absolutely, super-duper sure about this despite knowing _zip_ about him," she finished.

Applejack looked at the little guy currently resting in her foreleg and narrowed her eyes. 'I'm sure," she stated, she then turned to the Princes of Friendship. "Twilight?"

"Well… he does seem to like you." Princess Twilight observed as the baby continued to hold Applejack and nuzzle her chest. Applejack smiled at his.

"Yeah, I guess we've bonded in a way." Applejack shrugged.

"Plus, you were the one who rescued him in the forest." Fluttershy pointed out.. "I think he needs you now."

"Yeah… I think your right…" Applejack agreed, gazing upon him, lovingly. "So… he can stay with me?"

Twilight thought for a minute. "Yes."

"Aw, thanks ya Twilight!" Applejack said, hugging her.

"Just make sure he doesn't go climbing onto any rooftops anytime soon." Rainbow Dash smirked.

"She won't, because I know Applejack will take great care of him, and raise him to be just as good as she is." Fluttershy stated.

"Yes, I'm sure this adorable child will be very happy living with you." Rarity smiled.

"Thanks ya'll. Really." Applejack nodded.

"Not a problem." Twilight smiled.

"So… what's his name?" Spike inquired.

"Hmm… I think I'll call him… Johnny Appleseed!" Applejack declared as she held the baby, now known as Johnny Appleseed high into the air, causing him to laugh.

"Ooh, catchy name!" Pinkie smiled.

Applejack nuzzled him and chuckled. "Yeah, for some reason it just seems to fit him."

"Yeah… it kinda does." Twilight realized.

"Absolutely!" Rarity nodded.

"I really like it." Fluttershy voice.

"Think the rest of your family will be ok with him?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

Applejack thought for a bit and stared at the child blinking innocently at her. "Only one way to find out," she said in a determined tone as she looked toward her home, Sweet Apple Acres.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

A little while later, Applejack arrived back at Sweet Apple Acres and walked up the steps to her home, which was near a big red barn with a purple roof, with little baby Johnny Appleseed in her saddlebag. She opened and door and stepped inside and seemingly, there was nopony home.

"Granny? Big Mac? Apple Bloom? Anypony home?" Applejack called out.

"We're in here!" she heard Apple Bloom yell from the living room.

Applejack then proceeded to the living room where she found her little sister Apple Bloom and her big brother Big McIntosh sitting in front of each other with a checkers board in-between them and Granny Smith herself sitting on her rocking chair watching them.

"Hey, ya'll. Whatcha doing?" Applejack inquired, interested.

"Playing checkers, Big Mac's teaching me." Apple Bloom told her.

"Eeyup." Their big brother confirmed.

"And _I'm_ supervising… although to be honest I probably should have had my nap five hours ago…" Granny Smith admitted as kept rocking in her chair and almost fell asleep.

Just then, the three of them then noticed the strange creature known as Johnny Appleseed sitting inside Applejack's saddle bag.

"Uh… Applejack? What's that there in your bag?" Granny Smith inquired, slowly.

Applejack turned to Johnny. "Oh, well… he's… something I found while I was out looking for the orchard earlier," she admitted. "By the way… still couldn't find it…"

"Oh… _knew_ I should have written better instructions…" Granny muttered.

"Hey… isn't that the monster everypony's been yelling about?" Apple Bloom inquired. "We could hear them all the way from _here_."

"He's _not_ a monster, he's a_ baby_. Name's Johnny Appleseed." Applejack told them, she turned to the baby. "Say hi to my family, Johnny."

The baby babbled at them and stared at them in a cute manner.

"Oh, well ain't the cutest thing?" Granny Smith remarked, rubbing his head affectionately.

"Eeyup." Big Mac nodded.

"But… what exactly _is_ he anyway?" Apple Bloom asked, as she approached the baby, curiously.

"I'm not all that sure Apple Bloom, but it doesn't matter." Applejack reasoned. "He's all alone with nopony else to take care of him now. That's why he's staying with _me_. _I'll_ take care of him and… and I was wondering if that was ok with ya'll. I mean… I don't want to do anything any of you don't wanna do but… he _needs_ me."

The Apples all saw how much Applejack had grown to care about the child in her hooves as she nuzzled him affectionately and exchanged glances.

"Say… since _you're_ taking care of him… doesn't that make you his mother now?" Apple Bloom inquired.

Applejack's eyes widen once Apple Bloom pointed out that important fact and wondered it herself. Was she his mother? She had never really thought about having children before but she wasn't against it. Plus, this kid had no mother, as far as she knew, and he needed someone to raise him. He needed _her_. She looked at the child, who looked at her and a smile appeared on her face, which he returned. The child seemed to have accepted her as his mother, so it was only fitting that she accepted him as her son.

"Yeah… I guess I am…" Applejack admitted, softly.

"And you know what _that_ means." Big McIntosh said, smiling knowingly.

"What?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Since your my sister and he's now _my_ son, that makes _you_ this boy's Auntie, Apple Bloom." Applejack told her.

"I'm an aunt?" Apple Bloom repeated, stunned before a big grin appeared on her face. "I'm in aunt!"

"Guess that makes me an Uncle." Big McIntosh smiled.

"Eeyup, 'Uncle McIntosh'… has a ring to it." Applejack smiled at her brother.

"I've always wanted a great-grandchild and now it looks like I do!" Granny Smith smiled.

"So… you ok with it?" Applejack asked.

"You really need to ask?" Granny Smith smirked. "Of course he can stay!"

"Eeyup!" Big McIntosh agreed with a nod

"Wahoo! Welcome to the Apple Family, Johnny Appleseed!" Apple Bloom said, happily. "Ooh, can I play with him, sis? Can I?"

"Sure thing!" Applejack said as she set Johnny down.

Apple Bloom then walked over to Johnny and began to tickle him with her tail, he laughed happily and she quickly joined in.

"Coochie, Coohie, coo!" Apple Bloom giggled as she continued to tickle the baby, who kept laughing.

"I see you two have already bonded." Applejack remarked, smiling.

"Yeah, he's really fun!" Apple Bloom told her.

"Huh, Pinkie said the same thing." Applejack pointed out.

"They know?" Big Mac inquired.

"Yeah, I couldn't kept him from them and all of them agreed to help but… I'm kinda wondering if I have what it takes to be this little guy's mother…" Applejack admitted, sadly. The Apples all exchanged glances.

"Don't worry sis, we'll help you take care of him no problem!" Apple Bloom assured her big sister as she gave her a hug, along with Big Mac and Granny.

Applejack hugged them back. "Yeah… I know you guys will," she smiled while Johnny smiled.

They then heard a knock at their door and all of them turned toward it.

"Who is it?" Apple Bloom asked before the door opened and a familiar tall, white and beautiful alicorn with a flowing and colorful mane stepped through to greet the Apples.

"Greetings Apple Family," she said. "I hope I'm not interrupting."

"Princess Celestia!" Applejack gasped as she and the rest of her family bowed in her presence. "What are you doing here?"

"Twilight told me that a new creature had made an appearance in Equestria, so I decided to see it for myself." The Princess explained. "May I?"

"Uh… sure!" Applejack responded. "One sec."

Applejack walked over to Johnny and picked him up, making him go 'Ooh!' as he was lifted up high.

"Well, here he is." Applejack said as she held Johnny out. "Johnny, this is Princess Celestia, the ruler of Equestria."

Princess Celestia looked at the baby in her hooves closely and smiled at the sight of him, she didn't even mind when he started to feel her long face. The Apples eyes all widened.

"Uh… heh, heh, so sorry Princes… he's… kind of a grabby little critter." Granny said, nervously as she pulled him away, which made him cry. "Oh dear… any ideas? Anypony?"

"Hold on." Princess Celestia said as she closed her eyes, lowered her horn, which started glowing. Johnny then stopped crying and stared at it, amazed.

"Wow… he calmed right down." Apple Bloom remarked.

"Yeah, that happens when he's around magic." Applejack said. "Again, sorry about the grabbing Princess."

"That's alright, I can tell just by looking at him what a pure hearted child he is." Celestia said, smiling at Johnny.

"You got that right Princess." Applejack agreed with a smile.

"And from using my own magical scan I've also learned some more things about this child's species as well." Celestia added.

"Like?" Apple Bloom inquired.

"Well… his dietary habits are both similar to _ours_… as well as animal such as a full grown _bear_…" The Princess said, slowly while looking toward a bear sitting by a far off creek and currently eating a giant fish.

"What!?" The Apples all exclaimed.

"You mean… this little guy… might just…" Applejack began, sounding fearful as she gazed upon the child in her fore legs, scared that he might one day eat them.

"But don't worry, he is perfectly capable of only eating vegetables and fruits, though another means of increasing his protein and muscle levels must be found." Princess Celestia told them. This seemed to calm them down.

"Uh… we'll think of something, don't you worry Princess." Applejack assured her.

"Thank you, I have complete faith in you Applejack." The Sun Princess nodded.

"So… I can keep him then? He can stay?" Applejack asked, hopefully.

Celestia smiled, sweetly. "Of course he can," she said. "And in just a little while he will become an official citizen of Equestria."

"Thank you, Princess." Applejack said, gratefully.

"Your very welcome my little pony, and good luck with that little one." Princess Celestia told her as she turned to leave. "I have a feeling that you will be a fine mother, Applejack."

Applejack felt very happy and proud to hear her Princess say that and smiled as she watched her boy while holding Johnny tightly as well.

* * *

><p>A little while after the Princess had left the Apples quickly started to make some room for the newest addition to their family. They got out all their old baby items that they had stored away, bought some new stuff, some new food and everything else that a child could need.<p>

Next was getting the child a room, which was easy since they happened to have an empty spare room that nopony ever uses and it was the perfect place for him to sleep. Applejack opened the door to the room, which was super plain and empty and had one window on the left side.

"Ok Johnny boy, this is your new room." Applejack said, as she stepped inside the plain room with Johnny in tow. She turned and called out. "Big Mac! Bring in Apple Bloom's old crib will ya?"

"Eeyup." The big red stallion said as he pushed the crib inside the room easily.

"Thanks, set it right over there." Applejack told him, gesturing to the far end of the room.

"Right," he said as he pushed it right over there. Applejack then took a carpet that Granny Smith had just brought in and placed it in the middle of the room along with a lamp.

"There, now it's complete!" Applejack declared.

"Hold on!" she heard her little sister call out before she ran with some more baby stuff.

"Ah, good work Apple Bloom." AJ said. "Let's get them into the crib."

They then put some toys inside the old crib and with a decoration that had mobile toys attached also.

"_Now_ it's complete." Apple Bloom said.

"Eeyup." Big McIntosh agreed.

"Thanks for the help, ya'll." Applejack expressed.

"Always happy to help, honey." Granny Smith smiled.

"Yeah, and it was a nice touch bringing in my old crib." Apple Bloom added.

"Been a while since you were in that thing, huh Apple Bloom?" Applejack remarked.

"Yeah, haven't been it since I was a foal myself." Her younger sister mused, nostalgically. "Seems so long ago now…"

"Indeed it does…" Applejack agreed.

"And I'll be happy to build him a big boy bed once he's ready." Big McIntosh added.

"Yeah… thanks big brother… my only concern though is… he may be too young understand _now_ but… when he grows up he'll _know_ he's different." Applejack said, concerned. "He'll wonder who and _what _he is… and we won't be able to tell him… so how do I tell…"

Granny Smith put a hoof on her shoulder. "Don't you worry Applejack, I have a feeling those answers will come to you both in time."

"You think so?" Applejack inquired.

"Well anything's possible… except when it comes finding a simple orchard… but hey, that's beside the point right now." Granny Smith stated.

"Ok…" Applejack said. "Well, thanks ya anyway, Granny. Honest."

"Like I said, happy to help, honey." Granny Smith smiled.

Applejack returned her smile while the Apples all gathered next to each other closely.

"Apples forever…" Applejack began to say.

"Apples together." The rest of her family finished while the little creature in the middle giggle with joy.

* * *

><p>Later on, just after Princess Luna, Celestia's younger sister, had raised the moon, it was nighttime in Equestria and already many ponies were getting ready for bed. Including the Apple Family. At the moment, Applejack was currently walking into the bedroom of her new son with the little creature holding onto her while she had her foreleg wrapped around him.<p>

"Ok, time for bed, Johnny boy." Applejack told the baby. The baby cooed at her, innocently. "You sure had a busy day, huh? Found yourself in a new world… met me and my friends and climbed a _roof_! Not bad, sugarcube."

Applejack then got close to the crib and began to slowly place him inside it.

"There you go…" she said as she then set him down, she then noticed him shivering. "Oh, you're cold…"

Applejack then remembered the red blanket that he was with before, took it and quickly wrapped him up in it.

"There ya go, nice and warm." Applejack said, smiling satisfied. She then placed Johnny in the crib. "Now, time for light's out. But first… do want to hear a lullaby?"

The baby babbled in response and wigged his arms at her, which seemed to mean 'yes'. Applejack smiled and then began to sing the 'Hush Now, Quiet Now' lullaby that Fluttershy usually sang and soon enough Johnny was out like a light. Applejack smiled at him.

"Don't worry Johnny, you may not be a pony… but that doesn't matter… you're an Apple know, and I'm gonna teach you all you need to know about being an Apple _and_ a Pony." The farm pony promised. "Trust me, your gonna love who you turn out to be."

She then stroked her new baby boy's cheek with her hoof as he slept peacefully.

"And I promise you, I won't let anything happen to ya… Johnny, my son." Applejack told her new son, tenderly. She then began to sing a song similar to 'You'll Be in My Heart'.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

By the time the sun rose over the land of Equestria, the always honest Applejack opened the door to her new son's bedroom and stepped inside before walking right over to the crib, where the young Johnny Appleseed slept.

Applejack awoke the little baby boy, smiling rather motherly as she swooned over him.

"Rise and shine, Johnny." Applejack cooed to him, tickling his belly. He giggled adorably, and she picked him up, wrapping his blanket around him to keep him warm.

It had been a little over a week since the Apple Family had accepted Johnny Appleseed into their home. The legal permits were to be approved any day now, and Twilight and company, , had decided that the townsfolk needed to meet the baby boy and get over their irrational fear of him, which was part of the reason why they currently had to hide him from them all. All that was left was to convince the Apple Family also.

Applejack trotted into the kitchen. Big Mac was already gone, out to the market to sell some apples and such in the early morning. Granny Smith was bent over a cutting board, slicing some Red Delicious apples for a pie. Apple Bloom was sitting at the counter, munching on a bowl of wheat flakes.

The two greeted Applejack. Applejack trotted over to Granny Smith's side, fetching some specially marked milk. It was a special formula for Johnny to drink until her became old enough to eat solid food regularly.

The baby chugged the bottle of milk while Applejack took out a green apple from a ceramic bowl. She bit into it, its bitter taste washing over her taste buds.

Soon Johnny had finished. Applejack set the bottle in the sink to be washed as burped the boy. After that, Applejack carried him back upstairs to get him dressed. Apple Bloom rushed over to them, giving both of them pecks on the cheeks before galloping out the door to school.

Applejack soon reached the summit of the stairs.

She had asked Rarity after the first day if it wouldn't be too much trouble to make a few garments for the boy, for no pony supplied such simple things for a creature such as he in Equestria. Rarity had taken his measurements and dropped off several outfits two days ago.

Applejack slid the boy into a plaid shirt, and then a set of denim overalls. For a finishing touch she placed two little white socks upon his feet.

"There you go, all comfortable like." Applejack smiled while Johnny giggled and waved his arms.

Applejack had discovered that for Johnny's kind to walk comfortably, a pair of shoes was needed at all times. But due to the fact that the baby could not complete such a task yet, special shoes for him were not a priority.

* * *

><p>Later on that day, by the time Apple Bloom had come back from school, Applejack galloped back downstairs with Johnny in tow, having just awoken him from his nap and walked into the living room, where she saw that Big Mac had finally returned home and everypony else was there as well.<p>

"Ah, Big Mac, good you're here," she said, pleased.

"Eeyup." Her brother confirmed, nodding.

"So what's up, sis?" Apple Bloom inquired. "You called a family meeting pretty urgently you know."

"Is little Johnny doing ok?" Granny Smith added as Johnny held onto Applejack tightly and snuggled into her chest

"Yeah, he's fine, anyways the reason I called ya'll here is because that I think it's time to show him to town and get them to calm down." Applejack stated.

"What!?" They all said.

"But sis, if they see him they'll run for the hills! Again!" Apple Bloom pointed out.

"Eeyup." Big Mac nodded.

"Your brother and sister are right Applejack, it may not be the best time to show them off to the town just yet." Granny Smith agreed.

"Hey, I know it's risky, but I don't know if I can keep this secret from the whole town any longer… and don't think you or my friends can either." Applejack reasoned.

The Apples all exchange glances and glanced away, which clearly showed that Applejack had hit the nail on the head during that last part of her sentence

"Look, if we can get everypony to understand that he means them no harm, it'll be easier for him to interact with them without anypony being scared of him and we won't have to isolate him here forever." Applejack reasoned. "It's the only way, ya'll."

The Apples looked at each other again, and without saying it, agreed that Applejack had a point.

"Alright, Applejack, we'll do it your way." Granny Smith relented. "But _please_ tell me you got a plan of some kind."

"Way ahead of you Granny. Me, Twilight and the others have already thought of ways to get nearly everypony in town gathered up in one place." Applejack told her. "And I each of you to gather up the rest, as well as set up the stall."

"I can do that." Big McIntosh said.

"Yeah, and I'd love to help gather everypony up!" Apple Bloom added, excitedly.

"I think I can help with that too." Granny Smith added.

"Well, alright! Let's get to work Apples, we only got one shot at this so let's not mess it up!" Applejack told them. Her entire family stared at her, blankly.

"Yeah… no pressure, sis…" Apple Bloom remarked to her, flatly.

Applejack blushed and chuckled, nervously. "Sorry… now let's do this."

"Right!" They all said before heading out the door together.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, Applejack informed her friends that the rest of her family was in and with that they all agreed to set their plan in motion.<p>

Soon enough Granny was already waiting at the marketplace where the Mane Six and the Apple Family would be speaking to the citizens of Ponyville about their newest, and oddest, resident. Even Apple Bloom would be able to make it, for she had convinced Cheerilee to take the class on a field trip to the market to hear the speeches.

The two mares and baby sped out the door and onto the dusty dirt road.

The trio soon reached the bustling market place. Applejack could see Big Mac working their stall in one corner, and most of the Mane Six setting up a stage smack dab in the middle of the square.

The school foals and Cheerilee appeared on the horizon, smiling and galloping around the stalls.

Applejack saw Granny being drawn towards a particularly shiny pie tin, and set her free to go inspect.

The orange apple mare reached the stage just as Rainbow Dash, the last of the others, zoomed down and landed upon the newly constructed oak stage.

"Ok guys, this is it." Rainbow Dash told them.

A white megaphone lay in front of Applejack. Twilight nudged her smiling.

"I think ya'll should do this one, Twi, you being the princess here and all." Applejack told the princess.

"Yes darling, I do believe you will have the most positive impact speaking to the crowds than the rest of us." Rarity added. Twilight sighed and quickly worked up the nerve.

"Okay, I'll do it," she said.

Twilight took the megaphone up to her mouth with her magic. A few of the market goers had seen the stage and had come to inspect. A few had even spotted little Johnny and made a beeline for their homes.

"Attention, Ponyville!" Twilight cried into the megaphone. The whole market fell silent as everypony in a half a mile radius turned towards the purple pony princess. "I would like to speak about our newest resident. You may have already met him, but I know all of you probably fear him in some way."

Murmurs and whispers broke about in the crowd, but they fell silent after about a minute.

"Fillies and gentlecolts… meet Johnny Appleseed, the newest member of the Apple Family!" Twilight declared as Applejack stepped forward and took Johnny out of her saddle bag before holding him up to the large crowd before them. He giggled at them and they all gasped.

"It's the creature from before!" Roseluck cried.

"Run for your lives!" Derpy added, causing nearly everypony to run around screaming, their heads off while Applejack, her friends and her family stood there looking distressed and helpless to stop it all. Eventually, Johnny started crying also.

"Ooh, there, there, it's ok Johnny…" Applejack tried to assure him.

"Don't think he believes you…" Rarity noted.

"Don't think _I_ believe me…" Applejack confessed.

"Ooh… what do we do?" Apple Bloom whimpered. Eventually, Rainbow Dash had enough and stepped forward before raising her voice.

"QUIET!" Rainbow Dash yelled. Everypony then stopped in their tracks and the entire market quickly became dead silent as they all turned to her. Even her friends were stunned by her outburst, with Pinkie breaking the silence by clapping three times and very slowly also. "Thank you, now if all of you will just shut up and listen for a second, the Princess would like to say something. Go, Twilight."

The Princess then stepped forward. "Thank you… Rainbow Dash…" she said, slowly before clearing her throat. "Everypony listen up, I know you're scared of little guy but I assure you that he means no harm! He's just a _baby_!"

"So what is he?" Lyra inquired.

"We don't know." Twilight responded.

"Can you send him back to where he came?" Aloe added.

"Well… we don't know if we can…" Twilight admitted.

"Then how can you be so sure about him?" Bon-Bon accused. Other ponies then started to agree with her

"Look, he might be different, but remember Spike and Zecora? You all were a bit afraid of both of them, but when you got to know them, you all became rather good friends with each of them." Twilight stated.

More murmurs broke out, as they realized her point.

"I say we give this child a chance. How would you feel if you were abandoned and then nopony wanted to look at you? To even think about you? Are we really citizens Equestria, the amiable and harmonious ponies who treat others better than we treat ourselves or are we a bunch of judgemental jerks who run in fear whenever we see something that's not like us?" she asked, which struck a chord inside each of them. "So… who is with me?"

After some thinking the crowd began to feel guilty for how they acted and realized that she was right and thus most of the crowd cheered heartily. Twilight smiled, satisfied.

"Way to get them to listen, Twilight." Spike congratulated her.

"Yes, I knew you had it in you." Rarity agreed.

"Way to go." Fluttershy smiled. Twilight smiled back at them.

"Johnny Appleseed everypony!" Twilight cried out as Applejack held him up again (Lion King Style) and the crowd cheered. Johnny laughed with joy.

As everypony went back to their everyday lives, Applejack smiled and gave Twilight a tight hug.

"Thanks Twi."

"Always a pleasure." Twilight said, sweetly. They both then looked outward towards all the many ponies walking about.

"You sure everypony will be ok with him now?" Applejack inquired.

"Well, they seem to be all calm now, but there will always be _somepony_ that doesn't trust him, some still don't even trust Zecora or Spike, but they keep to the themselves since they know everypony will hate them for it." Twilight said.

"So what do you think?" The cowgirl asked.

Twilight gave her an assuring smile. "Don't worry Applejack, just gave faith, they'll all come around sooner or later. And we'll be right with you to help raise this child," she said. "Because he's _our_ responsibility. All of us. Together."

"Aw, thanks again Twi. Really, I mean it." Applejack expressed.

"Well, what are friends for?" Twilight said, sweetly as they hugged and nuzzled a bit. They soon stopped when they saw Rainbow Dash spooking some ponies or yelling at them with the Megaphone Twilight used.

"Come on, Ponies! This stage isn't gonna move itself! Move it! Move it! Move it!" she yelled at them, repeatedly.

"Ok… one of us has to steal that megaphone away from Rainbow Dash…" Twilight observed, looking stunned.

"Agreed." Applejack nodded as she slowly walked over and put Johnny on Big Mac's back before she and Twilight both slowly scurried to the side while Rainbow wasn't looking while everypony covered their ears to block out her various loud orders.

"Oh, could somepony _please_ make her stop!?" Rarity proclaimed.

"That's right everypony, follow _me!_" she cried before both Twilight and Applejack suddenly tackled her and then crashed.

"Thank you!" Rarity said, gratefully. This performance caused Johnny to giggle a bit.

"Um… shouldn't we be concerned over the fact that Johnny seems to _enjoy_ watching ponies fight?" Fluttershy pointed out.

Pinkie Pie thought for a little bit. "Hmmm…" she said, before pausing and then finally saying… "Nah!"

Fluttershy just sighed in dismay.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

For the next eight years of the young creature's life the Apple Family worked hard in taking care of him. They taught him how to live in a world not meant to house somepony like him and while it was hard, they had their friends and the townspeople helping them out. They taught him how to read, write… mainly with his mouth, though he couldn't help but use his strange hooves as well as walk on two legs instead of four, because of that Spike taught him how to walk on both his legs. Plus they taught him all about Equestria and the entire Apple Family, and because of their teachings he sometimes acted like a pony himself, or at least as well as he could be due to the unknown nature of his foreign species.

During that time, Applejack loved every second of being a Mom. She hadn't felt that good or that happy since Apple Bloom was born and the first time he called her 'Ma' was one of the best moments of her life. Johnny adapted quickly to his new environment and tried to act like his adopted family as best he could, with mixed results but he loved being an Apple. He and Applejack did everything together, they played, they laughed, they even had fun when Johnny was in the bathtub. They were practically a perfect family.

For a long while the only ones who interacted with Johnny the most were his new family, Applejack's friends, as well as the other Cutie Mark Crusaders, which his Auntie Apple Bloom was a part of, plus some of the townsfolk. As such, he learned a lot about friendship from them and wanted to make friends of his own, but because of his adoptive mother's protectiveness and fear of how some of the others kids else would act around him like they did before, it was difficult for him to make friends. But on a certain day, all of that would change in an instant.

The first thing eight year old Johnny heard when he woke up was the sound of two birds chirping outside his window while the sun shined in his face. He slowly sat up and stretched both of his arms before stretching similar to how a pony would stretch. Johnny then hopped out bed in his red pajamas, landing on all fours before standing up on just two.

Johnny had grown quite a bit since he first arrived in Equestria and was now a bit taller than his adopted mother, though she still treats him like her little boy, which he enjoys. He still had a short head of hair and his cute little face also. He did a few stretches to loosen his joints, he quickly found out that he could stretch into various positions that other ponies could not, giving him good flexibility. He sighed when he was finally done and gazed around his bedroom.

His room had now become slightly messy due to all the knick-knacks that he had gotten from all over Ponyville, plus various toys he had gotten from Pinkie Pie after every birthday party she threw for him, they made the day Applejack got him his birthday since they didn't know his actual birthday. He also had a Wonderbolts poster on his wall and a bed with a green comforter covered in apples. Johnny then stared at a family picture of him and the entire apple family and smiled at it before he heard a voice.

"Johnny! You're gonna be late for your first day of school!"

"Coming, Ma!"

And with that, Johnny quickly got to work and changed out his pajamas and put on a nice, simple red t-shirt, blue jeans and black and white sneakers, all designed by Rarity, who was practically family to him and his mother.

"There! Ok, here I go!" Johnny declared as he raced out his room, down the hall and slid down the railing to the stairs before rushing into the kitchen, where his adopted mother, Applejack, was preparing breakfast for him.

"Morning, ma!" Johnny said, cheerfully.

"Well, good morning, Johnny. Sleep well?" Applejack asked.

"You bet!" Johnny smiled as he sat down in his seat, similar to how a pony would sit. "I also had that weird dream again!"

That caught Applejack's attention. "You mean… the one where you kept hearing two ponies talking over you?"

"Yeah! I still couldn't see their faces but… it sounds like… a mare and a stallion and they… they were talking about me! They _knew_ me!" Johnny said, excitedly.

"Has… Princess Luna said anything about it?" Applejack questioned, slowly and curiously.

Johnny shook his head, a bit dejected. "No… she still can't go into my mind… it's like… something's _blocking_ her and I don't know why…" he admitted. "Any ideas why?"

"Sorry sport, not a clue." Applejack shook her head.

Johnny sighed. "Ma… what am I anyway?"

Applejack froze upon hearing that question and began sweating bullets until she managed to force a smile and turn to her son. "Uh… so how do you like your eggs again?"

"Scrambled. And why do you always do that?" Johnny inquired, innocently.

"Do what?" Applejack asked.

"Well… whenever I ask about what I am or where I came from you always avoid it." Johnny pointed out.

"Not always…" Applejack denied before Johnny raised a brow at her, knowing that she was lying, and lying badly. "Ok, always, truthfully I'm still searching for answer but once I know… I'll tell ya, ok?"

"Ok…" The eight-year old said a bit disappointed. Applejack saw the look on his face and attempted to change the subject.

"So… ready for your first day, sport?" Applejack inquired as she then placed his scrambled eggs in front of him.

"Yeah, I can't wait! Finally I'll get to be able to learn with other kids like me!" Johnny smiled, while digging into his meal.

Applejack frowned a bit upon him mentioning that important fact about him being with other kids, secretly she didn't want him to go to school since she knew he might get picked on by them simply for being different. But she didn't want to deprive him of having a normal childhood so she said 'yes' to his request to go to Ponyville Elementary.

"Ma? What's wrong?" Johnny asked, noticing his adoptive mother's depressed look.

"Huh, oh it's nothing hon, just go get your lunch from your Uncle once you're finished your breakfast, ok?" she said.

"Ok, ma!" Johnny nodded before he quickly finished up his meal in a jiffy and then ran off. "Later!"

Applejack chuckled, amused. "Always rambunctious."

* * *

><p>Johnny then rushed into his living room where his good old Uncle McIntosh was waiting for him. The bipedal eight-year old ran up to him.<p>

"Morning, Uncle McIntosh!" he beamed.

"Morning," he responded with a wise smile.

"Got my lunch for school ready?" Johnny asked, hopefully.

"Eeyup." His uncle confirmed as he picked up his lunch bag with his teeth and held it out to him. Johnny tried to grab it with his teeth also but was only able to hold it in his mouth for so long until it fell out and nearly hit the ground before he caught it with his strange hooves. Granny Smith then entered and saw what he did.

"Ho-ho! Nice catch there sonny!" she complimented him.

"Thanks Great Granny Smith! Wish I knew what they were though…" Johnny admitted.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out sooner or later." Granny comforted him.

"Darn tootin I will!" Johnny declared, smiling.

"Well then, you'd better get a move on!" Granny said.

"Ok!" Johnny nodded before he began to head for the door, only to stop when he sees a now older Apple Bloom who now had her own Cutie Mark, which was an heart shaped apple.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?" she inquired.

"Oh! Right! Sorry!" Johnny said, quickly before hugging her, which she returned. "Goodbye, Auntie Apple Bloom."

"See ya soon, Johnny." Apple Bloom smiled as they ended their embrace and Johnny headed for the door.

He soon began to walk away from the house, but along the way he turned, saw his whole adopted family watching him go then waved at them as he then began to walk backwards.

"Bye, Ma! Bye, Uncle McIntosh! Bye, Auntie Apple Bloom! Bye Great Granny Smith!" Johnny waved.

"Bye, Johnny!" Applejack waved back.

"Have fun!" Apple Bloom added.

"Don't let the rustlers get ya!" Granny Smith added. Johnny then turned to her wide eyed, as did the others.

"She's just kidding son, just have fun, ok?" Applejack told him. He nodded and soon headed off to school.

* * *

><p>Johnny soon arrived at the Ponyville Schoolhouse, which hadn't changed much in the years since Johnny's arrival. Just by looking up ahead Johnny could see multiple fillies and colts rushing to the school in a hurry, he sighed deeply before he began to make his way towards it as well. As he walked past some ponies some looked at him with wonder andor amazement while others gazed at him suspiciously, not that he really noticed.

He soon stepped through the front door of the schoolhouse and sat that everypony was already seated in their little desks while a purple pony named Cheerilee stood in front of them. They all turned to him when he entered.

"Ah, Mister Appleseed, you've arrived." Cheerilee said, pleased.

"Hi, are you Miss Cheerilee?" Johnny asked.

"Yes I am, sweetie. Now could you please step in front of the class?" Cheerilee offered.

"Uh… ok." Johnny said, shyly as he walked forward and gazed at all the faces staring at him expectedly.

"Class, I'd like you to meet the newest addition to our class; Johnny Appleseed." Cheerilee said, gesturing to Johnny.

"Uh… howdy there everypony!" Johnny waved, looking a bit nervous. "Nice weather we're having here in Equestria, huh?"

The class just stared at him blankly, some still even gave him suspicious looks and glares. A cricket could even be heard somewhere close by.

Sweat dripped from Johnny's face as he now looked very anxious, thanks to their stares. "Uh…" he said.

"Thank you, Johnny. You may now take your seat, please." Cheerilee said.

"Yes ma'am." Johnny nodded as he began to walk down the aisles of seats in front of him. As he did so, he failed to notice a certain colt named Money Bags glaring at him as he walked by.

Gold Bar had a green coat, a golden mane done in a fancy style, green eyes that matched his coat and had three bars of gold as his Cutie Mark.

As Johnny began to pass him a nasty smirk appeared on his face just before he subtly stuck out his hind leg and caused Johnny to suddenly trip and fall right on his face hard. Everypony around him laughed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mister 'Furless Wonder', did that hurt? It looked like it did!" Gold Bar observed, laughing at him mockingly. Johnny groaned as he tried to get up.

"Are you alright, Johnny?" Cheerilee asked, concerned.

"Yeah… I'm ok…" Johnny groaned.

Cheerilee turned to Gold Bar, looking quite displeased. "Gold Bar, what do you have to say for yourself?" she asked.

"Sorry Miss Cheerilee, it won't happen again…" Gold Bar said, lowering his head while also shooting Johnny a snide look that frightened him as he got back up.

"Well, see that it doesn't." Cheerilee said as she then walked back to her desk while Johnny sat down at his seat. "Alright, now that we are all here let's begin our lesson."

As Cheerilee began to talk Johnny struggled once more as he tried to sit like all the other kids, but he always revert back to sitting with his legs stretched out and under the desk, a position most of the other kid ponies found very strange and chuckled when they saw it.

"What's the matter two-legs, having trouble sitting?" Gold Bar taunted. Several others chuckle at this. "Guess you country folk really _aren't_ that bright after all."

The kids chuckled and mocked him again, while Johnny lowered his head.

Cheerilee turned to Gold Bar. "I'm sorry, did you have something you wished to add?"

"Uh… no. No, thank you." Gold Bar shook his head.

"Good, then back to our lesson." Cheerilee said, turning her attention back to the board.

Johnny noticed everypony else was writing down what she said using their mouths and attempted to imitate them. He put his 'hooves' on the deck, picked up the pencil using his mouth and began to write with it. Johnny struggled to keep writing with his mouth and felt a residual urge to use his 'hooves'. He began to shift between his mouth and claw like hooves constantly before Gold Bar finally spoke up.

"Dude, hooves… mouth… pick one! Come on, make up your mind, freak, or is your little country having trouble figuring it out?" he whispered, making some of the other kids chuckle while Johnny and dropped his pencil.

* * *

><p>Later on, during lunch time while everypony was either eating their lunch or playing pony games Johnny was just sitting down and preparing to eat his own lunch. His eyes brightened when he saw a juicy red apple inside, no doubt picked from his adopted family's orchard. He then dove into the bag and took out the apple using his teeth, he took a big bite out of the apple but nearly dropped it. He tried to catch it with his 'hooves' clenched, but he just bopped it around until he uncurled the 'claws' on his 'hooves' and caught it.<p>

Johnny sighed and then noticed some kids apparently wanting him to come and play with them until he heard familiar voice call out to him.

"Hey, you!" The voice called out. "Over here, monkey boy."

Johnny slowly turned around and saw Gold Bar standing nearby, he shook a bit with fear.

"Come over here," he told him.

"Um… no thank you." Johnny shook his head.

"What's the matter? Afraid you'll trip again?" Gold Bar smirked. "Come on, I won't hurt ya… much."

"Uh…" Johnny muttered.

"I said get over here!" Gold Bar said, sternly.

While frightened and nervous, Johnny eventually complied with Gold Bar's demands and started to walk over to the side of the school, where he waited for him.

"What… what do you want?" Johnny asked, stuttering.

"I want to make something _clear_ to you." Gold stated.

"Make what clear?" Johnny inquired.

"That you're not welcome here!" Gold told him, bluntly. "Look at ya! You're a two-legged freak with no fur and a small nose! Not to mention those freaky things you call 'hooves'. Plus you don't even have a _cutie mark _and I don't think you ever _will! _You honestly think you'll fit in here?"

"Well, I think I can if I work hard enough and believe in myself, that's what Ma always tells me." Johnny said.

"Ha! Well, then your 'Ma', is just trying to make sure you keep your hopes up." Gold Bar scoffed.

"My Ma's not a liar!" Johnny protested.

"And she's not you 'Ma', either." Gold pointed out. "You're just something that she took pity on and took in."

"But…" Johnny began to say.

"Face it freak, you'll _never_ fit in here. You might have been _raised_ by one of us, but you are _not_ or will you _ever_ be one of us, understand?" Gold Bar asked him.

Johnny gulped, with tears in his eyes. "Yes, I understand…"

"Good. See ya." Gold Bar said as he turned away and left while Johnny sat down on the ground and curled up into a ball before beginning to cry.

* * *

><p>Later, Johnny walked all the way home after school with dejected look on his face. On the front porch, Applejack was waiting for him and greeted him with a warm and welcoming smile.<p>

"Heya sport, how was your first day of school?" Applejack asked before her son quickly walked right past her looking very upset. Applejack saw the look on his face and quickly understand why he was upset. "Oh no…"

Applejack watched her son sadly as he continued to walk into the dark house.

* * *

><p>Later, that evening, Johnny was sitting on the front porch of the house looking out toward the horizon looking sad and depressed and trying to sit like a pony and failing every time. As he sighed, his adopted mother approached him looking empathic.<p>

"Johnny… you ok?" Applejack asked him.

"No… I'm not…" Johnny responded in a dull tone. "School stinks…"

"Aw, I'm sorry things didn't go the way they you thought they would sugarcube." Applejack told him, sympathetically as she sat down next to him. "But don't worry, things will get better, just you wait."

"Yeah? _When?_" Johnny asked, doubtfully.

"Now don't be like that, you know nothing good ever happens if you pout about it." Applejack reminded him.

"Yeah, I know, I know… Ma." Johnny nodded. "But still I…"

"You still what?" Applejack inquired, curiously.

Johnny sighed. "It's nothing Ma…"

"Now don't you lie to me Johnny boy, you know how I feel about lying." Applejack reminded him, sternly.

"Sorry Ma…" Johnny said, shamefully.

"It's ok, hon." Applejack assured him. "You're just stressed, that's all."

Johnny stared at his now murky reflection in the puddle again and sighed, depressed.

"Gah… why am I so _different_, Ma?" Johnny asked his adopted mother, frustrated. Applejack feared this questioned would come up sooner or later and it made her sad, but she did her best to hide it.

"You're not _different_ Johnny, you're just _special_." Applejack told him, comforting.

"No I _am_ different, I _know_ that and _they_ know that too." Johnny stated. "I can barely do _anything_ without having to rely on _these_."

Johnny held up his hands and wiggled his fingers.

"Aw, come on that's not so bad…" Applejack said. "It's actually pretty cool to me. And I'm not the only one who thinks that way."

"Yeah? Name one other pony besides you, Great Granny Smith, Uncle Mac, Auntie Apple Bloom along with everyone else in our family plus your friends…" Johnny requested, sounding a bit tired.

"Oh… besides us… well there's…" Applejack began to say.

"I need to find my place in this world but… I don't think it's here anymore…" Johnny admitted to her.

"Yes, it _is_, we just haven't _found_ it yet. But we will!" Applejack assured him.

"You don't know that…" Johnny pouted, before mumbling. "I mean _look_ at me…

Applejack leaned closer to him. "What was that sport? I couldn't…"

"I SAID LOOK AT ME!?" Johnny hollered, as he stared at his adopted mother stressed out. She started back at im, sympathetically.

"I am, and you know what I see?" Applejack asked.

"What?" The eight-year-old asked, curiously, as Applejack put her hoof on his head.

"I see somepony with two eyes, just like mine," she began before putting her hoof on his nose next. "And a nose, a bit smaller… but just like mine."

Johnny giggled a bit once she touched his nose. "That tickles!" he said, before she then placed her hoof on his chest.

"And I feel a heartbeat… go on, try to feel mine." Applejack encouraged. Johnny then slowly placed his hand on her own chest and started to feel a beat as well. "Can you feel it?

Johnny nodded. "Yeah… I feel it," he confirmed.

"See? Aside from a couple of… obvious things, we're not that different." Applejack told her son, as she pulled him in a hug, which he returned. "Other ponies just… don't see that."

Just then, something clicked inside of Johnny as he raised his head and looked his adopted mother straight in the eye. "Then I'll _make_ them see it! I'll show them just how great I can be, by being the best hard worker they've ever seen as well the best pony I can be!"

"I'm sure you will." His mother smiled. "Now come here."

Applejack then began to rub his belly and tickle him. He then started laughing joyfully.

"Mom! Cut it out!" Johnny cried as he continued laughing. She soon ceased tickling him and smiled.

"Well, don't worry sport. I have a feeling that the next time you go to school, things are gonna be different." Applejack stated.

"Really?" Johnny asked, surprised before he lowered his head sadly. "But everypony at school calls me 'the hairless wonder'… and they all laugh at me…"

"Did they now?" Applejack remarked, while Johnny nodded sadly, she then looked out into the distance thoughtfully. "Well, let me tell you something, sport. Ain't none of those kids, have as kind a heart as _you_ do."

Johnny looked at her, surprised.

"And someday… your gonna have a group of _real_ friends who see that quality inside of ya and respect ya for it." Applejack smiled. "Trust me Johnny, you _will_ make friends, friends who believe you, who trust you completely. You got cherish those friends Johnny, ya hear me?"

Johnny smiled. "Ok ma, but… you really think somepony like _me_… could really have friends like _that_?" he asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, one-hundred percent." Applejack nodded, with a warm smile as she wrapped her hoof around him and held him tightly which he greatly appreciated. They both then gazed upon the starry horizon before them. While Johnny felt happy nuzzling next to his adopted mother, questions about what he is and where he came from still plagued him. He may be satisfied _now_, but soon…

* * *

><p><strong>Voices<strong>

**Lisette St. Louis as Johnny Appleseed**

**Evan Smith as Gold Bar**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The next morning, as Celestia's sun shined brightly the bird chirped all over, singing a little song and signaling the beginning of a new day. Applejack stepped out of the house, admired the peaceful surroundings, and then turned to the door, expecting somepony to arrive.

"You coming, sport?" Applejack asked her bipedal son, who had just ran out. The events of yesterday haven't seemed to diminish his eager spirit at all.

"I am, Ma!" Johnny beamed. "I am ready for the new day!"

"Glad to hear it, now get a move on." Applejack told him, patting his back as he began to headed off. As he ran, he turned and began waving at his adopted mother.

"See you after school, Ma!" Johnny cried.

"See you soon, sugarcube!" Applejack waved. "And try to make some friends!"

Johnny continued to look at and wave at Applejack, completely unware of what was in front of him until suddenly he accidently bumped right into something very big and very furry.

He looked up and was surprised when he saw that he had bumped into what appeared to be a bison with black fur, with a green ribbon wrapped around one of his black horns and he appeared to be about his age.

"Uh…" Johnny said, unsure of what to say.

"Sorry about that, didn't see you." The bison said as he offered Johnny his hoof, Johnny took it and lifted himself up.

"Thanks, that's very kind of you." Johnny nodded.

"My pleasure." The bison nodded. "I am Ironhorn by the way. What is _your_ name?"

"Uh… Johnny. Johnny Appleseed, and please don't ask what I am… I _still_ don't know." Johnny said, depressed.

"Well, whatever you are, I am glad to meet you." Ironhorn said.

"Nice to meet you too." Johnny nodded. "Say… you're a bison right?"

"Yes. Yes I am." Ironhorn confirmed, nodding.

"So… why are you in Ponyville? My Ma said all the Bison's were around Appleloosa." Johnny pointed out.

"My family moved here just recently, wanted to see what life was like among you ponies." Ironhorn responded.

"Oh… so how is it?" Johnny asked.

"Very nice." Ironhorn replied, simply. Johnny looked surprised by this.

"Very nice? That's it?" Johnny asked. "That's all you can say about it?"

"I am a Bison of few words. That is all." Ironhorn stated.

"Oh… well that makes sense." Johnny figured.

"Yep." Ironhorn added.

"And uh… whatcha doing? Shouldn't you be heading to school too?" Johnny asked him, curiously.

"There's still time." Ironhorn stated.

"Ok… but still what are you doing anyway?" The eight-year-old questioned again.

"Admiring the flowers. I… like how they look." Ironhorn replied, a bit sheepishly. "And I sometimes… collect pressed flowers."

"Oh, that's pretty cool!" Johnny remarked.

"I'm… keeping it quiet." Ironhorn said, shyly.

"Why?" Johnny inquired.

"I… I just don't want to be made fun of…" Ironhorn admitted.

"What for? Being who you are? I'm not making fun of you for that." Johnny pointed out.

"And I thank you for that." Ironhorn said, gratefully.

"You're welcome!" Johnny said before he noticed another odd creature walking around close by them.

The creature up ahead of them was blue, had the face of a pony but had scales like a fish and a long blue tail with a light blue mane and yellow eyes as well. He had strange mechanical limbs that looked like hooves and wore an orange breathing rig attached to him as well. He almost looked like a giant guppy.

"Who's _he_?" Johnny asked, curiously as he pointed to him. Ironhorn turned towards the creature.

"That's Wave Crasher." Ironhorn replied.

"Wave Crasher?" Johnny echoed, surprised. He looked at him closely. "Hmm, he doesn't look like a pony though…"

"He's a sea pony." Ironhorn said. "That's why he's got that special suit on. If he loses any water…"

Suddenly, Wave Crasher appeared right in front of them from out of nowhere, startling them.

"I'm a dead fish!" he loudly proclaimed, before pretending to joke then falling right over and pretending to be dead. Ironhorn and Johnny just stared at him blankly, which made his face fall looking very disappointed.

"I am so sorry you had to hear one of Wave Crasher's bad jokes…" Ironhorn apologized. Johnny then began laughing.

"It's ok, I actually think Wave Crasher is really funny!" Johnny confessed.

"Are you serious?" Ironhorn questioned, surprised

"Yep! I never lie!" Johnny beamed, nodding.

Wave Crasher smiled at the compliment as he raised his head and then stood back up in order to face them.

"Hey thanks, what's your name?" he asked.

"Johnny. Johnny Appleseed." The eight-year-old said.

"Johnny Appleseed… that's a nice name, almost as nice as… Calvin Carrot!" Wave Crasher said before pulling out a carrot. Johnny looked a bit amused while Ironhorn just looked at him stone faced, which created a dark cloud over his head.

"Well as long as we're being honest I have to say those jokes are the worst." Ironhorn confessed. Crasher groaned in disappointment.

"I don't agree, I think Wave Crasher is great!" Johnny stated.

"Yeah? Really?" The sea pony asked with a smile a happy tears coming from his eyes.

"I kinda like the fact that you might have the worst sense of humor in Equestria." Johnny added bluntly, smiling. Hearing this innocent remark made all the color from Wave Crasher's body vanish while his jaw dropped in dismay.

"_That _is putting it mildly." Ironhorn remarked. "By the good, good honesty."

"Thank you." Johnny nodded, gratefully.

"Oh yeah? Well, watch _this_!" Wave Crasher declared as he spotted a young couple walking by and walked over to them.

"Uh…" Johnny said, slowly.

Crasher then popped up in front of the couple. "Hey, young couple! Can I interest you folks in a joke?"

"Uh… no thanks." The mare said.

"Yeah, so beat it clown." The gruff stallion snarled.

Wave Crasher then dressed up as a clown. "Ok, clowns; why do they wear perfume? Because they want to smell funny!" he said, laughing. Johnny, Ironhead and the mare stared at him while the stallion got angry and bonked him on the head, knocking him down.

"Boy, glad I got _that _out of my system," he said, sounding satisfied.

"Glad to hear it, now let's head home!" The mare said.

"Sure thing!" Her boyfriend said as they both left.

"Ok… _that_ was something." Johnny remarked.

"In way, yes." Ironhorn agreed. "And as you can see he brings new meaning to the word 'punchline'."

Wave Crasher groaned as he got up. "Oh… I'm ok."

"So what brings you here anywhere?" Johnny inquired. "Shouldn't you be in the sea or something?"

"Oh well it's pretty much the same reason _he's_ here." Crasher stated, gesturing to Ironhorn. "The sea pony's want to see what living on the surface is like plus Princess Celestia thinks fostering better relations with our kind would be mutually beneficial and all that jazz. So she and her Brainiac friends wiped us up some suits so that we could walk on land."

"Well, that was very nice of her." Johnny said, pleased.

"Yeah, it was." Crasher nodded in agreement.

They then heard a voice coming from close by them.

"Hello, there!"

They all turned around and saw a young, unicorn filly approaching them with a warm, welcoming smile on her face.

The unicorn filly had a pink coat, a yellow swirly mane and tail similar to Bon-Bon's and yellowish eyes and she had three purple and yellow star shaped flowers on her flank. She looked similar to Lily Valley. She also hard with her a yellow saddlebag.

"Wow…" Ironhorn said, stunned.

"Well, hello there!" Wave Crasher said, smiling flirtatiously.

"Hello, to you to. I'm Orchard Star!" The unicorn filly said, smiling.

"Uh… and I'm… Johnny! Johnny Appleseed!" The boy said, stammering.

"Nice to meet you Johnny Appleseed. I saw you guys were heading to the school and thought I'd join you. Boy you guys look hungry. One sec." Orchard Star said.. She used her magic to open up her bag and take out half a sandwich which she levitated over to Johnny, much to his surprise. "Here, have one."

"Huh? Oh wow… thank you." Johnny said as he took it. "That's very generous of you."

"Oh, it's no big deal, really." Orchard Star assured him. She turned to Crasher and Ironhorn. "You guys want some?"

"No thank you, I'm good." Ironhorn said.

"I'd like some!" Crasher said as Orchard Star levitate a sandwich over to him, but before he could take a bite, a yellow flash zoomed by and snatched it up right before he could bite onto it. "Hey! What the…?"

The yellow streak of fiery energy then zipped around all around then, leaving a burnt circle on the grass before zipping around left to right and all across the sky.

"Whoa! What is _that_?" Johnny asked, amazed.

"I'll bet I know who…" Orchard Star said.

The yellow blur then began to fly all around them, creating a mini little twister until it finally it stopped and flew right of them, revealing itself to be a Pegasus filly, also their age.

The Pegasi girl had a golden-yellow coat and a shaggy black mane and tail that made her almost look like Daring Do, she also had purple eyes and a red and yellow sun cutie mark.

"Sup, everypony?" The Pegasus said.

"What are you doing?" Orchard asked her a bit annoyed.

"Saw you guys all standing around and talking and I wanted to know why, besides Orchard Star's a friend of mine and I never leave friends behind, ok?" she asked.

"Ok… what's your name?" Johnny asked the Pegasus.

"Sunspot, fastest Pegasi alive." The Pegasus boasted.

"So… you're a flier?" Johnny inquired.

Sunspot smirked. "One of the best."

"But I thought Rainbow Dash was the best." Johnny pointed out.

"Well… she is right now… but soon she'll be second best! Once I show Ponyville what I got." Sunspot stated.

"Cool. Well, I look forward to it!" Johnny said, smiling.

"Thanks. So… what are you anyway?" Sunspot asked, curiously.

"Uh… I don't know really." Johnny admitted, shrugging. "But when I figure it out I'll you know."

"And by then it will snow!" Wave Crasher added, as he threw hoofful of white powder onto all of them. None of them laughed at all, except for Johnny anyway.

"So… you're the only one of your kind that's here?" Orchard Star asked, concerned.

"Well… I guess so." Johnny said.

"Ooh, must be hard for something like _you_ to live in a Pony world." Sunspot remarked, sympathetically.

"Well, my family and my Ma's friends have accepted me, and a lot of townspeople do to, but… it does get a bit lonely being the only… _me_ in Equestria…" Johnny said, depressed.

The others all exchange glances with each other.

"You know…" Wave Crasher began. "We're _all_ kind of one of a kind in our own way."

"Yeah, I mean I was born and raised in Cloudsdale before I came here and I _hate_ setting my hooves on the ground." Sunspot expressed. "I know other Pegasi have moved from Cloudsdale to Ponyville but… I'm _still_ adjusting…"

"I… figured." Johnny said, slowly.

"And I'm the only one in Ponyville whose from Baltimare." Orchard Star added, smiling. "Plus you already know that Ironhorn is the only bison."

Ironhorn nodded in confirmation.

"And I'm the only Sea pony here or under there." Wave Crasher smirked.

"Under where?" Johnny inquired.

"Oops! I just made you say 'underwear!" The sea pony said before laughing. The others all groaned, dismayed.

"Crusher's bad joke aside… as you can see we all have more in common than you think." Orchard Star stated. "And we all have our own ways of dealing with our own personal issues. For example, Wave Crasher uses his humor to deal with the fact that he's no longer in the water."

"True!" Wave Crasher confirmed, with a smile.

"Ironhorn collects flowers to make himself feel happy even though he's one of the only bison's here." Orchard continued while Ironhorn turned away and blushed. "And Sunspot mainly flies around because it reminds her of her home back in Cloudsdale."

"Hey! That's…" Sunspot began before she paused and then lowered her head. "Ok, it's true…"

"What about _you_, Orchard? What do you do to cope with the fact that you're the only pony from Baltimare?" Johnny inquired.

"Oh me? Well, I do whatever I can to help the ponies of Ponyville, whether it's helping them with their jobs or giving them gifts, anything." Orchard Star replied. "Though my specialty is design."

"Mine is telling jokes!" Wave Crasher said, proudly.

"Not it's not." Sunspot said, flatly. "Anyway, mine is flying so fast… it's looks like I'm on fire!"

"And mine… is pressing flowers." Ironhorn admitted, still looking shy.

"Wow… you all got some… great talents…" Johnny remarked, sadly.

"Aw, don't feel bad Johnny, everypony has a special talent." Orchard comforted him.

"Seems that everypony else has a special talent except for _me_." Johnny sighed.

"Ah, you just haven't _found_ it yet." Sunspot assured him. "You just gotta be patient."

"Like _you_?" Orchard Star teased.

"Everypony's a comedian…" Sunspot said, sarcastically.

"Hey! That's _my_ job!" Wave Crasher protested.

"Yeah, but I do it better, fish boy." Sunspot stated.

"Alright, that's enough." Ironhorn told them, sternly.

"Sorry…" They said.

"Thanks everypony, that means a lot to me…" Johnny expressed, though he still looked sad.

"Don't worry yourself Johnny, we're your friends, and because of that we'll help you find your special talent, whatever it is." Orchard Star promised him.

Hearing this surprised Johnny greatly. "What did you say?"

"We'll help you find your talent." Sunspot said.

"Before that." Johnny told them.

"Before that?" Wave Crasher echoed, before remembering. "Oh yeah!"

"We're your friends!" They said. Hearing this again made Johnny's whole face light up and he smiled brightly. Then he remembered something important.

"Hey, after school you guys should really meet my Uncle Spike!" Johnny told them.

"Who is this… 'Uncle Spike'?" Ironhorn asked,

"He's a dragon and the only dragon in Ponyville, plus before you guys he's been my only friend and an honorary uncle to me also." Johnny said.

"Well, he seems like a cool cat." Wave Crasher remarked, impressed.

"Yeah, I'd love to meet him." Orchard Star agreed.

"A dragon huh? Cool. I'm in!" Sunspot said.

"Dragons are respected among my tribe, so I would be honored if you would allow me to join." Ironhorn said.

"Thanks you guys!" Johnny smiled. Then Sunspot remembered something important.

"Uh-oh! Speaking of school, we'd better get their fast before we're late!" Sunspot exclaimed. The others let that sink into their heads for a bit before they finally got it and they all screamed.

"Come on, let's go!" Orchard Star told them. "Run for it!"

They then began to run off towards the school together, while Sunspot flew above them.

"Hurry fellas, run for the hills! Oh, look! There's one!" Wave Crasher pointed out.

"Would you knock it off!?" Sunspot asked him, annoyed.

"Everypony's a critic." Wave Crasher sighed, rolling his eyes as the five continued to dash towards the school. But can their new friendship withstand the taunting of a certain gold maned prissy little colt named Gold Bar, time will soon tell.

* * *

><p><strong><strong><strong>Author's Note: This chapter uses bits of inspiration and references from various forms of media that I like, admire and honor but I do not own them. This is not for profit, it is merely for fun. No flames please and thank you.<strong>****

**Bob Carter as Ironhorn**

**Matthew George as Wave Crasher**

**Michelle Ruff as Orchard Star**

**Ashleigh Ball as Sunspot**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Not long after the gang arrived at the school class started, and throughout the whole session Gold Bar kept giving Johnny a dirty look. The eight-year old did his best to ignore it but he knew he was glaring at him and it made him extremely nervous. It soon became lunch time and Johnny was seemingly all by himself, sitting outside the school and eating the lunch his mother gave him when someone spoke to him.

"Well, well, if it isn't the hairless monkey?"

Johnny turned and saw Gold Bar standing close by with a nasty smirk on his face. He then approached him as Johnny stood up.

"I thought I told you that you're not welcome here," he said, harshly. "Do I need to beat that into your skull for you? Huh?"

Gold added to this by pushing Johnny with his hoof.

"Sorry, but I _live_ here and I'm _not_ gonna leave!" Johnny said, firmly. "And you can't make me leave either, ok?"

"Oh? Did the freak grow a _spine_?" Gold Bar questioned, looming over him. "You gonna make me back off, weirdo?"

"In a way." Johnny responded.

"Yeah? You and what army?" Gold Bar inquired, preparing to shove him again before a yellow blur zoomed past him. "What the…?"

Before he could finish Orchard Star suddenly teleported next to Johnny while Sunspot zipped around and faced Gold Bar as well.

"_We're_ his army." Sunspot stated, glaring at Gold Bar fiercely.

"Gah!" Gold Bar said as he backed away to the side a bit before he noticed Wave Crasher close by.

"Hey, how's it going?" Wave Crasher asked him, casually.

Gold Bar yelped again and then backed away before he bumped into something big and furry behind him, he turned and gulped when he saw Ironhorn looming over him threateningly.

"Boo." Ironhorn said, flatly, making Gold Bar scream.

"Now you leave our friend alone right now… and we'll convince our big friend to leave you in one peace." Sunspot told him as Ironhorn grinned at him very nastily.

Gold Bar screamed at the top of his lungs and ended up running so far away from them that he ended up leaving the school grounds, not that anypony noticed.

"Heh, what a wimp." Sunspot remarked.

"So, _that_ was the pain in the Kester that was bugging you yesterday?" Crasher questioned.

Johnny nodded. "Yes, he was."

"He sure runs fast." Ironhorn remarked.

"He sure does…" Johnny observed.

"Not as fast as _me_ though." Sunspot boasted.

"On that we have little doubt." Orchard Star said, smiling.

"Hey, we all make a good team, don't we?" Johnny pointed out.

"You bet we do!" Wave Crasher agreed.

"Yeah!" Sunspot added.

"Well, I am just glad _that_event is over with." Ironhorn said, satisfied. "I am not a big fan of violence."

"Seriously? You're as big as a house!" Wave Crasher pointed out.

"I will not address it." Ironhorn said, stubbornly.

Crasher smirked. "Speaking of 'a dress'…" he began before he held up a dress next to Ironhorn. "You mind fitting this for my sister?"

Ironhorn then began angered for the first time and bonked him on the head.

"I do _not_ wear girls clothes," he told Crasher, sternly.

"Hey, I was only joking… lighten up… I thought you needed a laugh…" Crasher groaned.

"And _that_ is why I do not like violence." Ironhorn concluded, firmly.

"Hmm, noted." Johnny said.

"At least it's all over now." Orchard Star said, relieved. The others nodded in agreement.

"So… what now?" Sunspot inquired.

"Come on, guys! Let's play a game!" Wave Crasher suggested.

"Alright!" Sunspot cheered, excitedly.

"Ok, so what do we play?" Johnny asked, interested.

"Let's play horseshoes!" Wave Crasher declared

"Ok, let's do it!" Sunspot said, obviously pumped.

"Wait, how does _that_ work?" Orchard Star questioned. "Your mechanical hooves can't hold things. They're built for _walking_, not _holding_."

"I know, but all I got to do is use my mouth to pick them up and spit them out forward." Wave Crasher said. "And it helps that my lips are really strong. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Boy, you're pretty smart, Crasher!" Johnny remarked.

"Yeah, so much so it's scary…" Sunspot agreed.

Wave Crasher then put a sheet on and acted like a ghost. "Ooh… scary… scary…."

"And… now you're an idiot…" Sunspot added, deadpan.

Crasher then began to sulk. "That hurt's my heart…" he muttered, depressed.

"Yeesh, you'd think his puppy died or something…" Sunspot remarked, baffled.

"Sunspot!" Orchard Star scolded her, appalled.

"What?" she asked.

"That's not a very nice thing to say." Johnny said.

"He's right, girls shouldn't talk like that." Ironhorn agreed.

"Ah, zip it." Sunspot grumbled.

"Ok, that's enough, everypony calm down." Orchard Star urged them.

"I vote for calm." Ironhorn agreed.

"Me too." Johnny nodded.

"Fine…" Sunspot sighed. "Get the horseshoes."

* * *

><p>A few moments later, each of the five kids held a horseshoe on their hoof, though Johnny held his using his claw like appendages and Wave Crasher held his using his mouth.<p>

"Ok… go!" Sunspot told Orchard Star.

Orchard Star tossed her pink horseshoe forward and nearly hit the bolt in the ground in front of them.

"Aw, so close…" she said.

"I'm next." Ironhorn said as she tossed his green horseshoe forward, though he ended up throwing it too hard and hit somepony on the head.

"Ow!" They exclaimed.

"Sorry, sir!" Ironhorn called out.

Sunspot turned to Crasher. "Ok, fish boy, you're up, and please try not to get us in trouble," she said.

Wave Crasher gave her a muffled 'Uh-huh' and positioned himself. He sucked his lips in and then spat out the blue horseshoe like a bullet, however it whizzed by its target and hit the door of an outpost.

"That's not gonna make me go any faster!" The pony inside shouted. Wave Crasher grimaced that that.

"Ooh… that could of gone better…" he commented. He turned to the others. "Think he's gonna be mad when he gets out?"

"Probably." Ironhorn nodded. "As will the guy I hit…"

"Ouch… hey, does anypony know the nearest route to the hospital?" Wave Crasher asked them, hopefully.

"If you mean the _morgue_, then _that way_." Sunspot said, nonchalantly while pointing to the. "I'm up next!""

Sunspot tossed her yellow horseshoe up and caught it with her teeth before tossing her horseshoe forward like frisbee. It landed just a couple of inches away from the bolt.

"Yes!" she cheered, pleased.

"Not bad Sunspot!" Orchard Star congratulated her.

"Yes, well done." Ironhorn nodded.

"Meh, I've seen better." Wave Crasher said before Sunspot gave him a death glare. "I mean… until you that is… yeah… that's right."

"Smooth." Ironhorn told Wave Crasher.

"Ok, you're up next kid, let's see if you can beat _that_." Sunspot challenged him.

"Ok." Johnny said, innocently as he stepped up to the plate.

Johnny pulled his arm back then threw it with just the right amount of force to send it flying all the way to the bolt, it spin around it before slowly hitting the ground

"I win!" Johnny cheered, happily.

"I lost…" Sunspot said, disappointed.

"Aw, don't be sad Sunspot, it'll in good fun." Orchard comforted her.

"I _hate_ losing, almost as much as I hate staying still." Sunspot grumbled.

"That's probably why you lost." Ironhorn deduced.

"Don't make me hurt you." Sunspot warned him. The others just chuckled.

"So after school we're going to go meet this Spike guy?" Wave Crasher asked Johnny, curiously.

"Sure are." Johnny nodded, smiling.

"Sweet! Can't wait till that stupid bell to ring." Sunspot expressed, gazing at the school bell.

"A watched pot never boils." Orchard Star said, sagely.

"What are you? A fortune cookie?" Sunspot remarked, slightly annoyed. Wave Crasher began to open his mouth. "Crasher, I will buck you in the face."

The Sea pony's mouth quickly closed before he lowered himself out of sight while the others laughed in amusement.

* * *

><p>Later, after school, Johnny kept to his word and took his newfound friends to the castle of the Princess of Friendship, which hadn't changed a bit in the years that he had been in Equestria. The Princess herself had also gotten used to her new home, as did Spike, who was just the dragon they came there to see.<p>

"Here we are!" Johnny declared, gesturing to the giant castle in front of them.

"Wow!" They all said, amazed.

"Now _this_ is cool! You must chill out here a lot!" Sunspot said.

"Only sometimes, I usually stay at the farm and do my chores." Johnny stated.

"That's nice." Orchard Star smiled.

"More like _boring_." Sunspot stated, eyes rolling.

"To _you_, since you claim to hate being on the ground." Ironhorn pointed out.

"Exactly!" The Pegasus exclaimed.

"Please, just behave yourself inside here Sunspot and don't touch anything valuable." Johnny begged her.

"Why are you telling _me_ that?" Sunspot asked, genuinely confused.

"Who else would he tell?" Orchard Star questioned, deadpan.

"Uh… good point." Sunspot admitted, defeated.

"Then let's go." Ironhorn said.

"Right." Johnny nodded as he went up and knocked on the door three times.

When the door opened a certain purple and green teenage dragon appeared, towering over most of them and looking somewhat lanky. He had a deep voice.

"Hello?" The Teenage Dragon asked.

"Hi, Uncle Spike!" Johnny smiled.

"Hey, Johnny!" Spike smiled back as Johnny rushed over to him and they both hugged tightly. "Good to see you, kid!"

"It's really good to see you too." Johnny said, happily.

Spike then saw the others. "Are you gonna introduce me to your pals?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, these are my new friends! Ironhorn, Wave Crasher, Sunspot and Orchard Star." Johnny said, gesturing to each of them.

"It's nice to meet you all." Spike told them.

"Nice to meet you too." Orchard Star, smiled.

"So… do you _really_ work with the Princess?" Sunspot asked him, eagerly.

"Sure do." Spike confirmed, nodding.

"And is she here?" The Pegasus asked, sounding excited.

"Sorry, no, had to run an errand." Spike shrugged. "Sorry."

"Aw…" Sunspot said, disappointed.

"Sunspot's a real big fan of the Princess, _and_ Rainbow Dash." Orchard Star told him.

"Yeah, no surprise there." Spike remarked. "Everypony's a fan of her."

"Well, next to that Scootaloo lady I'm her biggest!" Sunspot boasted. "I was just a foal when I first saw her but ever since then… she's been my hero and _I _am gonna be just like her."

Sunspot stood there looking up with her eyes sparkling, while everypony stared at her, baffled.

"Uh… Sunspot? Your drooling." Orchard pointed out.

Sunspot then snapped out of it and wiped her mouth. "Oh… sorry…" she said, blushing.

"Well, come on in." Spike said, gesturing to the open door.

"Sweet!" Sunspot said, as they all began to follow him inside the castle.

* * *

><p>As they all stepped inside they gazed at the shining hallways and various decorations that Twilight had added over the years. They were all starstruck.<p>

"Wow!" They all said, amazed.

"This place is amazing!" Orchard Star marveled.

"Totally!" Sunspot agreed.

"Very impressive workmanship…" Ironhorn nodded.

"I'll say! Hope this place is worth more than twenty _carrots_!" Wave Crasher joked as he held up a carrot and laughed. They just stared at him.

"Uh… Crasher's a comedian." Johnny explained to Spike.

"I see. We didn't _actually_ make it, it made itself after we stopped Tirek." Spike explained.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that, that must have been epic!" Sunspot said, excited.

"Not much to tell really, I got trapped in a bubble, Twilight and the others blasted Tirek and the Library blew up." Spike said, simply.

"I… thought there'd be more to it than that." Orchard Star pointed out.

"Yeah, Ma tells it better." Johnny nodded.

Spike frowned a bit at this looking annoyed, then quickly decided to change the subject.

"Hey, anypony want a drink?" Spike offered.

"Sure!" Johnny said.

"Ok!" Orchard Star said.

"Yes." Ironhead nodded.

"Bring 'em on!" Sunspot said.

"Coming right up." Spike said before he walked over to the kitchen nearby.

"Ooh, better watch out folks, those drink might be… spiked!" Wave Crasher joked while everyone stared at him with blank expressions.

"Do you have _any_ _idea_ how far left of funny that was?" Sunspot asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, been there… done that…" Spike called out as he poured a drink into six cups and walked back with them.

"Oh… sorry…" Wave Crasher blushed.

"It's ok, you actually remind me of Pinkie." Spike admitted, handing them their drinks one by one. They each took a sip before Crasher realized something important.

"Wait a minute… you mean _the_ Pinkie Pie?" Wave Crasher questioned, surprised. "The best party planner in all of Equestria?"

"That's Pinkie." Spike shrugged, smiling.

"Oh man! She's like my comedy hero! Say, has she ever told _this one_? Why did the yellow dragon cross the road? Because it was the chicken's day off!" Crasher quipped.

They all stared at him, confused.

"Huh? Chicken?" Ironhorn echoed.

"Encore! Encore!" Wave Crasher cheered. The others just groaned, dismayed.

"Yep. Your just like her." Spike concluded. Wave Crasher silently cheered 'Yes!' to himself.

"So… you know _all_ of the Princess' friends?" Sunspot inquired.

"Sure do, and they're also _my_ friends too." Spike confessed.

"It's true." Johnny told them.

"Yeah, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, the very famous Rainbow Dash, Princess Twilight, Johnny's Mom and… Rarity…" Spike sighed with a lovesick face, which made them confused.

"Uh… what's wrong with him?" Sunspot asked Johnny, baffled.

"Oh, he has a big crush on Auntie Rarity." Johnny replied.

Spike blushed. "Johnny!" he protested. "Not in front of folks…"

"Aw! That's so sweet!" Orchard Star gushed, putting her hooves on her cheeks and smiling.

"Gotta admit it is touching." Ironhorn admitted, nodding in agreement.

"More like gross, plus no offence, I don't think you appeal to her in a romantic sense." Sunspot told him. Spike's face then went red.

"No appeal!?" Spike exclaimed, agitated.

"No a _peal_!" Wave Crasher butted in holding a peeled banana. They all groaned in dismay. "Oh, _come on_! That was a _little_ funny."

"No it wasn't." Ironhorn said, honestly.

"You know why? Because there's nothing funny about your jokes!" Sunspot snapped. "Next time you're thinking of sharing one your 'jokes' do us all a favor and hold it in!"

"But I can't hold it in, when you gotta go, ya gotta go!" Crasher proclaimed. That just angered Sunspot more.

"Easy Sunspot…" Johnny urged her.

Spike chuckled in amusement. "Well, you certainly got Dash's spirit. I'll tell you that much."

"Thank you." Sunspot said, proudly. The others just rolled their eyes, while Johnny smiled, amused. Then they heard a strange noise coming nearby.

"What was _that_?" Orchard asked. The then turned to the door, where they heard the noise more clearly.

"Outside…" Ironhorn observed.

"Yeah, something's happening outside…" Sunspot added.

"Let's go see what it is!" Johnny said as they all raced to the door.

* * *

><p>When they all got outside they were all shocked when they saw a bus full of ponies careening out of control down a hill and it appeared to be heading straight for a cliff.<p>

"That bus! It's out of control!" Sunspot exclaimed.

"At the rate it's going… it's gonna crash into a million pieces when it falls off that cliff!" Wave Crasher proclaimed.

"Not good…" Ironhorn remarked.

"Boy… a lot of things sure do fall down that hill a lot." Spoke remarked.

"Hello! Bus full of innocent ponies about to get smashed to bits here!" Sunspot pointed out.

"Come on! We gotta save them!" Johnny told the others before they all quickly ran off before Spike could do anything.

* * *

><p>The kids all raced up the hill, where the bus was heading their way and soon enough it zoomed right by them, just when they reached the half-way point of the hill.<p>

"After it! After it!" Johnny cried out as they began to chase it down the hill, and from the looks of things it looked like it was getting closer and closer to the cliff, every second.

Eventually Johnny and Wave Crasher grab onto the back and tried to stop it but because it was so big and going down so fast it was nearly impossible for them to do so.

"Too… heavy!" Johnny cried, as he struggled to hold onto the bus, which continued to pull them forward.

"Ok, time to step on the brakes!" Wave Crasher declared, as he jumped up a bit and slammed on the ground using his metal hoofs, hoping to stop it, though they ended up getting dragged through the ground as they continued to go straight down. "Well that didn't work…"

"Sunspot! Ironhorn! Get in front of it!" Johnny yelled out.

"Right!" Ironhorn and Sunspot both said as they sped ahead of it until they were right in its path. When it came in contact with them, Ironhorn attempted to use his big body to slow it down while Sunspot used her hind legs to do the exact same thing also. The wagon then began to slow down but it wasn't enough they needed a little more.

"Orchard! Your magic!" Johnny cried.

"On it!" Orchard nodded, as she stopped and lit up her horn. The rest of the cart became enveloped in her magic as she tried to stop it, though because she was a beginning it was very difficult for her. "Ugh… it really… _hurts_…!"

All five of them tried as hard as they could on both sides of the wagon and eventually it began to slow down and then finally come to a halt just before it reached the cliff. They breathed a sigh of relief when it was over while all the ponies in the bus cheered before getting off and kissing the ground. One of the bus passengers approached them.

"You saved us, thank you," he bowed, respectively.

"Um… you're welcome?" Johnny said, unsure of how to respond to such a level of respect.

"We're just glad nopony was hurt." Orchard Star said.

Sunspot then cut in. "But if any of you want our autographs we'd be happy to…" she began to say. Ironhorn nudged her.

"Please, there's no need to thank us." Ironhorn said.

"Yeah, your all ok, that's all that matters." Johnny added. "Ma always said to lend a helping hoof every now and then."

"Well, whatever the case may be, we owe you kids our lives." The passenger expressed.

"Yeah, your heroes!" Another one added. The other passengers agreed and started cheering, along with everypony else that happened to be nearby them. The kids all smiled at this while Ironhorn looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Maybe we should go…" he told the others. Then some ponies with cameras appeared and began to take pictures of them.

"What's your hurry, big guy?" Crasher asked, smiling as the five friends all stood close together while the grateful ponies cheered for them and took their pictures.

* * *

><p>Later, back at Sweet Apple Acres, Johnny and his new gang of friends were all drinking Apple cider in the Apple family household while they told Johnny's mother about their exploits, which she had also heard herself through the social grape vine.<p>

"So, I hear you kids saved a whole bunch of ponies today," she remarked

"Yeah, we just worked together and we were able to stop it." Johnny said.

"We sure did." Orchard smiled.

"Yes." Ironhorn nodded.

"Totally!" Wave Crasher agreed.

"Personally, I think I could have done it without you all, but it did help that you guys were there." Sunspot admitted, smiling.

"Good to know." Johnny beamed.

The kids all laughed in amusement while Applejack looked at them all with a rather nostalgic look on her face and a smile as well.

"You know… Rainbow once did something like in the past… in fact we _all_ did… and looking at you kids… I see a lot of myself and my friends. You kids… are the next generation and as long as you stay together ain't _nothing_ can beat you, _nothing_." Applejack stated.

The kids all smiled, inspired by Applejack's words. Then something clicked inside of Johnny's mind.

"Hey… you know I think I just figured out what my special talent is!" Johnny realized.

"What's that?" Applejack asked.

"Helping other ponies, and that's what I'm gonna do when I get bigger!" Johnny declared. He looked to his friends. "That's what _we're_ gonna do."

"Darn right." Sunspot agreed.

"Yes." Ironhorn nodded.

"Sure, I'm happy to give whatever help I can offer." Orchard Star smiled.

"Me too! By the way did you ever hear the one about the singing flower?" Wave Crasher asked them.

"Don't you even start." Sunspot warned him.

"Oh, the singing flower…" Wave Crasher began before Sunspot promptly bonked him on the head.

"I warned him." Sunspot said.

"Boy… coming up with a joke is a lot harder than people think…" Crasher remarked.

"How about just stopping the comedy routine all together? Does that sound good or do I need to turn your head into a punching bag, funny boy?" Sunspot asked, looking annoyed.

Johnny just laughed. "Well, let's all promise to stay together from now on, sound good."

"Absolutely!" Orchard nodded.

"Rock on!" Sunspot cheered.

"Are ducks funny?" Wave Crasher quipped. Sunspot shot him a glare. "I mean yes!"

"Yes." Ironhorn nodded again.

Applejack gave him a look. "Boy… and I thought Big Mac was quiet," she remarked. Ironhorn just shrugged.

"Alright! The gang's all here! Pile in!" Wave Crasher exclaimed as he held out his metal hoof. The others exchanged looks and one by one put their hooves forward, with Johnny putting his multi appendage hoof last on top of theirs. They all smiled brightly.

* * *

><p><strong><strong>Author's Note: This chapter uses bits of inspiration and references from various forms of media that I like, admire and honor but I do not own them. This is not for profit, it is merely for fun. No flames please and thank you.<strong>**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A couple of days later, Johnny was leading his team through the Ponyville market place where dozens of ponies were picking out foods and gathered them into their bags after paying the seller's their bits. Behind him, the others followed, with Ironhorn carrying the stand on his back and Johnny carrying the bucket of Apples, though Sunspot looked less than pleased.

"Johnny… do we _have_ to go to the marker?" Sunspot complained.

"Yeah, my Ma wants me to try selling more apples." Johnny told her. "And I could use your help you guys. The more ponies, or Bison, helping the better. Please? It'll help my Ma."

Orchard Star smiled. "Do you really need to ask?"

"Yes, we're in." Ironhorn nodded.

"Totally!" Wave Crasher said, pumped. Everypony then looked at Sunspot expectedly.

"Darn peer pressure… fine! Besides, I was gonna say yes, anyway." Sunspot told them.

"Thanks guys." Johnny said, as he continued to lead them forward. "We'll set up over here."

Johnny lead them to a clear spot where Ironhorn set down the stand with the Apple logo on it and Johnny set the bucket of Apples down as well.

"Now what?" Wave Crasher inquired, confused.

"Now we encourage folks to buy our apples for a fair price." Johnny replied.

"Ok, sounds easy enough." Sunspot said.

"Nothing ever is." Ironhorn informed her.

"Just watch me big guy." Sunspot told him.

The Pegasus girl then stood in front of the stand and started calling out to various ponies walking by her.

"Come on over, Apples for sale! Come and get 'em!" she called out. She then saw a stallion walking by. "You there, sir!"

"Uh… yes?" he said, slowly.

"Would you like to buy an apple? Their _juicy_!" Sunspot smiled.

"Uh… no thanks. I'm good." The stallion said.

Wave Crasher then popped up. "Ok, how about this? You buy an Apple, and I'll tell you a joke, how about that?"

"Quick! Buy one before he tells a joke!" Sunspot told him, desperately.

"Uh… bye!" The stallion said before he quickly took off.

"Hey!" Sunspot called out.

"Aw, and I had a good one too…" Crasher whined.

"What a shame…" Orchard muttered, trying to hide her sarcasm.

"Yes, tragic." Ironhorn agreed, also sounding very flat. They the noticed Johnny placing some Apples in Bon-Bon's bag and her giving him some bits.

"Thanks! Come again!" he said, smiling.

"Thank you, young man," she said before she trotted off.

"Guys, I don't think your gonna sell any Apples by bribing or threatening them." Johnny pointed out.

"He is right." Ironhorn nodded. "You must all be patient."

"Yeah… really not my favorite word." Sunspot admitted.

"We know." They all said.

Sunspot groaned. "Well… at least it can't get any worse…"

Suddenly the ground started to quake, startling everypony as they held onto something while the ground violently shook beneath them.

"W-w-what's g-g-going o-o-on?" Wave Crasher asked as his voice shook. Everypony around, struggled to maintain their balance as the shaking continued.

"This _can't_ be good…" Sunspot voiced, grimly. "Oh… why did I say that?"

They all waited for whatever was causing the rumbling to reveal itself, then up ahead of them on the hill they could see a herd of cows coming towards them. They all looked scared and as they got closer to Ponyville, the townspeople quickly became scared also.

"Stampede!" Somepony shouted. Everypony around them started to scream and run around in fear while the kids just stood still and glanced around looking nervous before looking up ahead of them.

They saw that the cows were getting closer and because of that they could see that there was a lot of them, if they passed through town, they'd trample anything in their path.

"Oh… that's a lot of cows…" Wave Crasher remarked, stunned.

"Indeed…" Ironhorn nodded in agreement.

"We gotta get out of here!" Orchard Star said.

"Yeah, let's get this Apple rolling… on our heads!" Wave Crasher quipped as he put an apple on his head, which rolled off. "See, instead of hit our heads it's now…"

"NOPONY CARES!" Everypony, aside from Johnny, yelled out in annoyance.

Wave Crasher shrugged then stood on the more shaking part of the road and let it shake him up and down, much to his enjoyment.

"H-h-hey! T-t-t-his m-m-makes m-m-my v-v-voice s-s-sound s-s-silly!" Wave Crasher remarked, as he continued to vibrate.

"Crasher! Knock it off already!" Sunspot told him, annoyed.

"Yeah, we gotta do something!" Johnny added.

"What can we do against all those cows?" Orchard Star wondered, concerned.

"Simple, we have to divert the stampede away from the town, then stop them." Ironhorn said.

"Ok, that sounds simple enough, let's do it!" Wave Crasher said, pumped.

"Yeah!" The kids all said as they began to head out and help.

But before they could six certain ponies jumped out from out of nowhere and ran over to them, much to their surprise.

"Never fear! The grown-ups are here!" Pinkie Pie cheered as she and others stood in front of the awestruck kids.

"Wow! It's them!" Orchard gasped.

"Oh, wow! Miss Pinkie Pie! It's you!" Wave Crasher gushed.

"And Rainbow Dash too!" Sunspot added, she was amazed to see her hero in the flesh, just like Crasher was.

"Rarity and Fluttershy… Orchard added.

"And Princess Twilight… they're all here…" Ironhorn remarked.

"This is so… _cool_!" Wave Crasher marveled. "The six ponies who saved Equestria… right in front of us! Awesome!"

"Ma!" Johnny cried, surprised by her appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"We heard the commotion and came as quick as we could." Applejack said. "Now, you girls remember what I told you?"

"Yeah, you heard the cows together, we'll stop him." Rainbow nodded.

"Right!" AJ confirmed.

"But… what about us?" Crasher questioned.

"Stay right here." Applejack ordered.

"What!?" They all cried, shocked.

"Ma, please…" Johnny began.

"Sorry sport, I know you wanna be a hero and all but this is too big for you, trust me, I've done this before." Applejack told him.

"Yes, besides we don't want any of you getting hurt." Rarity added.

"The cows could bump into you, or run over you or hurt you or…" Fluttershy began to say, sounding more and more worried.

"The point is, this is _our_ problem with solve, not yours!" Twilight told them, sternly.

"But we can help!" Orchard Star pleaded.

"Yeah, _please!_" Johnny begged.

"I said; you kids stay back!" Princess Twilight told him, firmly

"Yeah, we got this!" Rainbow Dash agreed, confidently before they began to race towards the cows.

"Kids!?" Sunspot exclaimed, insulted.

They all watched as the Mane Six continued to run towards the cows looking disappointed and frustrated, though Sunspot was the one who was the most frustrated with the situation.

"Ugh, what's _they're_ problem? All they care about is how _old_ we are!" Sunspot expressed.

Orchard sighed. "Oh well, I guess we should be used to things like this, huh?"

"Yeah… still I thought my Ma would have more faith in us…" Johnny admitted, depressed.

"She's just trying to keep you safe from the _really_ dangerous stuff, that's all." Orchard Star assured him, smiling gently. They then resume watching the grown-ups deal with the problem at hoof.

Applejack started off by running right by them, this startled them a bit while the others got into position around them all before they started running again. Then with Applejack leading the charge each of the girls side slammed the cows whenever one of them tried to break away and began to divert them away from the town.

"Wow, they're so cool!" Wave Crasher said, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Well, they did save Equestria more than once." Johnny pointed out, proudly. "I've heard all the stories."

"Same here." Ironhorn nodded.

"Yeah, that's why Rainbow Dash is my hero… even if she is a bit of a jerk." Sunspot grumbled.

"Never meet your heroes." Orchard Star told her. "They'll just end up disappointing you. That's what my Mom says."

Up ahead, the heroes of Equestria continued to herd the cows together and because of their formation, there was no chance of one of them breaking free and running off.

"Ok, girls, keep at it! We've almost got them away from the town, just stay in formation!" Applejack told them.

As they ran, Pinkie then noticed a red balloon float by, which quickly caught her attention and made her eyes widen, she also smiled brightly.

"Ooh! A balloon!" Pinkie cried, happily as she began to look at it while continued to run, not knowing where she was going.

"Pinkie! Look out!" Twilight shouted before Pinkie ended up diverting away from the formation and slammed into a tree. Everyone winced at that, sympathetically. Pinkie slid down the tree and tipped over.

"I'm ok!" she called out, with birds circling her head as she titled her head left and right looking somewhat dizzy.

However, because of the gap left by Pinkie, the cows managed to break away from the others and continued on their path toward the own.

"Oh no!" Twilight said, fearfully.

"Get in front of them, quick!" Applejack said as they ran ahead. All the way from the town, the kids could see the grown-ups struggling to contain the cows.

"Uh-oh, looks like they're having a bit of trouble…" Wave Crasher observed, nervously.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Sunspot exclaimed.

Johnny watched his mother with a worried expression. "Ma…" he said, quietly.

They then saw them standing in the path of the stampeding cows and all gasped, shocked.

"No! They'll be trampled!" Orchard Star said, alarmed. Seeing his adopted mother in harm's way made Johnny tear up a bit.

"Ma!" Johnny cried out, as he began to run off.

"Johnny, wait!" Sunspot called out as she flew after him. The others exchanged glances and quickly began to follow them.

Up ahead, the Mane Six were getting ready to face the incoming stampede in the hopes of somehow getting them to stop but so far none of them had any ideas on how, and they couldn't herd them like last time due to Pinkie still being a bit disoriented.

"Here they come…" Fluttershy said, fearfully.

"Twilight… _do something_!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I'm _trying_ to think!" Twilight Sparkle said, stressed.

"Quick! Think faster! They're heading this way!" Pinkie Pie cried.

The Mane Six returned their attention back to the charging cows with wide eyes, but before they could move or do anything, Johnny and his friends ran over and quickly stood in front of them.

"Sorry we're late!" Johnny said.

"Johnny! What are you _doing here_!? Get out of the way!" Applejack told him, panicking.

"No! I won't! I know you're trying to protect me, but I can't just stand by and watch you get hurt! You're my Ma! I love you!" Johnny exclaimed, practically crying.

"Johnny…" Applejack breathed, touched.

"Um… hate to interrupt this touching moment but we got a herd of frightened cows coming our way!" Sunspot pointed out. She turned to Johnny. "Any ideas, kids?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah, but first…" he began before turning to Applejack. "Ma! Got some rope?"

"Uh… yeah, why?" Applejack asked before taking a coiled rope out of her hat and tossing to Johnny.

"Girls, cut this rope into four parts then tie them around a tree up ahead and over here so that they form a square but don't straighten them until I say!" Johnny said.

"Right!" Sunspot nodded as she took the rope and cut it up using her wings.

"Ironhorn get their attention, Crasher; make 'em laugh!" Johnny added.

"Dude, I thought you'd never ask!" Crasher smiled.

"Now Orchard, get me onto the lead cow so I can direct it away from the town and towards our trap." Johnny told her

"But Johnny…" she began.

"Do it! Please!" Johnny said.

"Well… ok, whatever you say." Orchard Star said as she concentrated hard, then her horn glowed and Johnny was enveloped in her magic aura and levitated over to the cows.

"Johnny, no!" Applejack cried as she tried to go after him but Johnny's friends stopped her.

"Chill lady, he knows what he's doing." Sunspot assured her.

"Yes, he has a natural instinct for leadership, I suggest you listen." Ironhorn advised.

"Miss Applejack, you said we were the next generation, let us prove it." Orchard Star pleaded.

Applejack glanced away with a conflicted look on her face but soon saw that she was right and sighed. "Alright… go for it."

Orchard Star nodded and continued to levitate Johnny over to the lead cow. Pretty soon he was directly over it and the unicorn lifting him continued to guide him down as it moved.

"Ok… drop me!" The eight-year old said.

Orchard then released her magical hold on him and Johnny promptly fell on the cow's back, catching it by surprise.

"Yee-haw! Ride 'em cow! Wha-hoo!" Johnny cheered.

Johnny then began to pull on the cow's horns, causing the cow to move a little ways from the town and towards Wave Crasher and Ironhorn, who stomped his hoof on the ground hard to get their attention focused solely on them.

"Ok, Crasher, do it!" Ironhorn told him.

"Right!" The Sea Pony declared.

He then stepped forward and stood in front of all the charging cows, now looking at him, and after a long and tense moment, with everypony watching fearfully, Wave Crasher told his joke.

"Hey, cows! Tell me, what's colorful and smart? A brainbow!" Crasher quipped as he practically makes a rainbow with his two mechanical hoofs. This bad joke, makes the cows screech to a stop, looking confused while everypony else just groaned.

"What? That was a good one!" Wave Crasher protested.

"I don't get the joke…" Fluttershy said.

"I don't think _he_ does either." Rarity noted, fatly.

"Yeah, there isn't a single pony _alive_ that would laugh at _that_ joke." Rainbow remarked, before she heard Pinkie laughing out loud.

"Ha-ha-ha! 'Brainbow'! Good one!" she said, chuckling.

"And I stand corrected…" Rainbow Dash said, annoyed.

Johnny then hopped off the lead cow and ran back so that he was out of the square. "Ok girls, now!" he yelled out.

Sunspot and Orchard both nodded and by using their teeth and magic respectively they made all four ropes straight and created a square shaped barrier around the herd of cows.

"Bullseye!" Sunspot cheered.

Johnny hopped off the lead cow and ran over to the others. "Alright guys, that was great!" he said as they all rushed over to each other, smiling and laughing.

Just then Twilight noticed something that caught her eye; a certain magical aura faintly surrounding the five kids, each a different color. Johnny's was red, Sunspot's was yellow, Ironhorn's was purple, Wave Crasher's was blue and Orchard Star's was pink.

"Could it be?" she whispered, while the kids reveled in their success.

"Alright! We did it!" Orchard Star cheered.

"Darn tootin!" Johnny nodded, smiling.

"Oh yeah!" Wave Crasher exclaimed.

"That was _awesome_!" Sunspot declared. "Way to take command, Johnny boy!"

Johnny blushed. "Aw, it was nothing…"

"Either way, you did well Johnny." Ironhorn nodded, smiling.

"I say… we should celebrate!" Wave Crasher suggested.

"Yeah!" The others all agreed.

"Great, just don't expect me to sing any songs." Sunspot stated, firmly.

"Speaking of songs. La…" Wave Crasher began before Sunspot bucked him in the face.

"Ah! My face! I am hurt! I am very, very hurt!" Crasher cried while running around in circles, holding his face while the others laughed in amusement. The Mane Six gazed at the five kids in amazement.

"They did it…" Fluttershy muttered, stunned.

"Wow! They were awesome!" Pinkie squealed.

"Indeed, and they handled themselves much better than _we_ did." Rarity noted

"Yeah, not bad… for a bunch of kids that is." Rainbow remarked.

"Oh, I'd hardly call them kids anymore…" Applejack said.

"She's right, these kids are _special_." Princess Twilight agreed.

Twilight and the others smiled at the five kids and began to notice the similarities between them and themselves. They truly were a new generation. However, unknown to them, something was slithering through the shadows and then quickly vanished right away.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

For many years the five friends continued to help out other ponies wherever they went and become closer and closer as time went on, plus the more ponies he helped out the more the still doubtful members of Ponyville began to accept Johnny. Despite their occasional comedic annoyance with each other the group slowly became a very tight-knit family, not unlike Applejack's group of friends. They occasionally had trouble with Gold Bar but they always managed to shake him off. Of course as time went on and Johnny went from his kid years to his teen years and finally adult years he grew more and more curious about his origins and more frustrated about how nopony could answer them.

Now they're greatest challenge is upon them.

Elsewhere, deep in the Everfree forest, laid the former castle of Princess Celestia and Luna. Despite the Mane Six cleaning it up a significant amount, the castle was still in ruins following Nightmare Moon's attack and was still falling apart. Plus the legend of the Pony of Shadows still kept ponies from entering it.

The girls dismissed it as just an old pony's tale years ago, but little did they know that during that time, they were being watched by something, something with glowing yellow eyes…

And that very thing was currently rising up from a crack in the castle, slithering up the walls until it finally reached outside and expanded until it took the form of a giant, four eyed winged creature that screeched. The screeched echoed the halls of the Two Sister's Castle and the area surrounding. The giant bird then dissipated.

Late one night, in one of the homes in Ponyville, a young colt was tossing and turning in his bed over and over again, while sweating poured down his face. He was having a nightmare.

In the nightmare realm, the colt was currently running from something as fast as he could with a fearful expression on his face. He looked back and saw what appeared to be a crazy monster clown-pony chasing after him and laughing like a madman.

"Come back here, little guy!" The clown said with a mad laugh. He then noticed a bright light close by and turned towards it. A winged unicorn then descended as the light faded, it was Princess Luna, Princess of the Night and because of that she has the power to enter ponies dreams.

"That's enough! You will no longer plague's this child's dream's any longer!" she proclaimed as she fired a beam of magic from her horn which struck the clown and knocked it back while the colt hid behind a rock, shaking like a leaf.

The Princess believed that the blast would cause the clown to vanish just like every other nightmare she had faced but much to her surprise it just got back up and growled.

"What!? That should have destroyed it but why…" Luna began."

A dark shroud suddenly enveloped the nightmarish clown, making them bigger, stronger, and more terrifying. It laughed in the young Princess' face while she narrowed her eyes at it. She tried blasting it several times but it did not falter.

"Hmm… this is no ordinary nightmare…" Luna muttered to herself. "Better use all my power."

Luna's horn then glowed brightly as she charged up a large amount of her magic, creating a large blue ball of energy above her head which she launched at the Nightmare Clown, causing it to explode upon impact. After the winds blew by her, Luna saw that it was gone.

"Well… that was harder than expected…" The Princess sighed. "But at least it's over…"

Before the Princess could do anything else she heard a dark chuckle from out of nowhere.

"Who is there?" Luna questioned as she gazed around the dark and shadowy dream realm. She heard a low growl and then looked up ahead to see a pair of yellow eyes looking right at her, making her scream with fear and as she did so it was almost as if whatever was in the darkness was absorbing her magic. "What are you doing to me…?"

A dark chuckle that echoed all around answered her. "It's simple… everypony's gotta eat, isn't that right… _mother_?" The voiced hissed. Luna gasped when she heard that last part, then a mouth appeared below the glowing eyes in front of her and it seemed to create a large and monstrous face that roared loudly, right in her face, causing her whole world to blacken.

* * *

><p>She awoke in her room with a sharp gasp and panted. "Oh no…" she whispered. "I have to warn her!"<p>

Luna quickly got up and raced out of her bedroom. She dashed down the hallways as fast as she could until she reached her sister's bedroom where she forcefully pushed the doors open.

"Sister!" Princess Luna cried, awaking Celestia.

"Luna, what is wrong? What happened?" Princess Celestia asked her younger sister, concerned.

"Sister… you recall me mentioning all those nightmares that have been occurring as of late?" Luna inquired.

"Yes." Her elder sister nodded.

"Well… I found the cause." Luna said, gravely.

"What is it?" Princess Celestia questioned.

"Something I had hoped would never return…" Princess Luna stated, solemnly. "Something very, _very_ dark…"

Princess Luna's eyes narrowed as she said this.

* * *

><p>For the now fifteen-year old Johnny Appleseed, it was another typical morning. The sun was shining through his window, the rooster was cawing and his bones cracked as he stretched his muscles while getting up. He quickly went to his drawer and put on some clothes, since he was previously only dressed in his boxers.<p>

Johnny had grown significantly taller, towering over all the ponies and now had shoulder length brown hair. He soon stepped out his room and had a long red cloth tied around his head. He also wore a red sleeveless vest with black linings, worn out looking blue jeans and brown work boots. Due to working on the farm for most of his life Johnny now had a very muscular physique, with abbs, strong calf's and broad shoulders. His skin was also slightly tanned due to working in the sun all the time.

He rushed to the stairs, slid down the railing and quietly stepped down and crept toward the kitchen where his mother was currently eating breakfast. With a mischievous smile on his face that he had retained from his youth, he snuck over to Applejack and tried to scare her from behind, but then…

"Don't even _think _about." Applejack said, flatly without even turning around.

Johnny's face fell flat in disappointment before walking over to his seat in front of her. "How'd you know it was me?" he asked, baffled.

"I'm your mother, I know everything." Applejack smiled. "Now where the hay have you been?"

Johnny smirked. "I thought you knew everything," he pointed out.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Applejack smiled, amused.

"Thought so." Johnny said.

"So, where were you anyway?" Applejack inquired.

"On the roof, keep an eye on the town with this." Johnny replied as he held up a pair of binoculars.

"Ah, looking for trouble, eh?" Applejack remarked.

"Yeah. What about _you_? What are _you_ up to?" Johnny asked.

"Oh, I'm spending some time with Caramel later." Applejack replied.

"Caramel?" Johnny echoed, surprised. "The one who forgets the seeds every Winter Wrap Up?"

"That's the guy." Applejack confirmed.

"Why him?" Her adopted son inquired, confused.

"Oh, well he wanted to make up for all the times he forgot the seeds by taking me out for lunch."

"Wow, that sounds good." Johnny admitted.

"Yeah, Caramel's a good guy." Applejack agreed.

"_The_ good guy?" Johnny questioned, suggestively.

"Don't you got some chores to do?" Applejack asked, raising a brow.

"Right. I'll get right on that." Johnny nodded, as he began to leave. "After that I'm meeting with the guys. Orchard Star's finally coming back from her vacation"

"Ok, have fun." Applejack told him.

"I will, don't worry." Johnny assured her as he stepped out the door. "Later."

"Later," she said as Johnny left. She sighed to herself as she looked at all the pictures of Johnny growing up. "You sure have come a long way sport… I miss those days…"

A happy tear fell down her face as she stared at a picture of her and Johnny when he was still just a baby before leaving.

* * *

><p>Later on, Johnny had just finished feeding the pigs and was now walking out toward the Apple orchard to applebuck, which Applejack taught him when he was finally old enough to do so.<p>

Johnny then faced a large Apple tree, turned and got down on all fours and bucked the tree with both his legs, like a pony. The apples were all then knocked down into the bucket.

"Yes!" he said. He turned around, stood up, walked over to the bucket full of apples and then picked it up and put it on his shoulder with ease before he walked off. He then entered the barn with his now slightly older Uncle McIntosh was stacking some bales of hay.

"Hey, Uncle Mac." Johnny nodded.

Mac turned to him, smiling. "Hey,"

"How's it going?" Johnny inquired as he walked over and set the bucket of Apples down.

"Good. How about you?" Big McIntosh asked him.

"Good as well." Johnny nodded. "Gotta a lot of Apples today."

Big Mac saw the Apples and smiled. "Eeyup. You sure have been busy, haven't ya?"

"That a bad thing?" Johnny inquired.

"Nope. Though usually you'd rather play first then work first." Big Mac pointed out.

"Well, we all gotta grow up sometime." Jonny shrugged.

"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed.

"Hey, I'm gonna go plant some of these seeds and then I'm off, ok?" Johnny said.

"Ok." Big McIntosh nodded.

"Later." Johnny said as he walked out of the barn, unaware that the shadow was following him.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, Johnny was out in the field planting more seeds in the dirt in order to grow some more fruits, veggies and of course, Apples. He dug a small hole, dropped the seed in and then covered it up with some dirt. He continued this until he heard something right behind him.<p>

"Long time no see, Johnny boy." Somepony said behind him.

Johnny turned and frowned when he saw Gold Bar, now grown up into a stallion, standing right behind him.

"Go away, Gold Bar, I don't have time for this." Johnny said, firmly.

"What? Scared that your friend's aren't here to protect you like they _always_ do?" Gold Bar mocked him.

"Hey, my friends help me just like how I help them when _they're_ in trouble, that's what we do, we _help_ each other. But I don't need their help to stand up to _you_, Gold Bar." Johnny told him.

"Oh yeah?" Gold challenged him.

Johnny stepped forward and looked down towards Gold Bar with steely eyes. "Yeah," he responded.

"Well, I'd like to see you _try_." Gold Bar stated as he reared up and pushed Johnny back with his front hooves.

"Don't mess with me, Gold Bar." Johnny warned the bully.

"Aw, what's the matter? You gonna cry again?" Gold mocked him.

Johnny stepped forward and just staring at him calmly. "Take a good look. Do you see any tears, Gold Bar?" he asked. Gold Bar then began to lose his smirk and started to back away from Johnny.

"Whatever, see you later Freakshow." Gold Bar grumbled before leaving. Johnny shook his head at him before turning his attention back to the seeds and planting the last of them.

"Ok, one more job left to do." Johnny said as he turned and began to run off into the distance.

* * *

><p>The fifteen-year old soon arrived in a large, grassy clearing, where he was supposed to meet his friends. The wind blew by as he gazed around for them but saw no sign of them anywhere.<p>

"Now where…" Johnny began to say before he heard something.

"Johnny!"

Johnny turned and smiled when he saw his friends rushing over from down the hill with smiles on their faces also. They were also all grown up and have become fully grown mares, bison's and Sea Pony's.

"Johnny!" Orchard Star squealed as she quickly hugged his leg. "It's so good to see you again."

"Good to see you too, Star." Johnny told her, smiling. "How was Baltimare?"

"Pretty good." Orchard shrugged. "But it's _great_ to be back home."

"Boy, you know they should change its name from 'Baltimare' to 'Bust-a-mare'! Get it?" Crasher joked. Everyone just lowered their heads and groaned.

"That was awful…" Ironhorn remarked. "A whole new low…"

"Ouch…" Wave Crasher said.

"After all these years… your jokes _still_ stink." Sunspot stated, frowning.

"Well, you haven't changed either… kinda like how you would never change your clothing if you _did_ wear clothes all the time, like Johnny does." Crasher countered. "Whoo! That would stink!"

"It's true." Johnny nodded.

"Why I oughtta…" Sunspot began, her body slowly turning red. As Wave Crasher trembled his mechanical legs shook with fear.

"Calm yourself, Sunspot." Ironhorn told her, sagely. Sunspot just grumbled in annoyance.

"You know… I met somepony who was a lot like you in Baltimare." Orchard remarked. "She got _really_ mad after we ran over her… cabbage stand, with our wagon. But we were able to pay her back though!"

"Boy, it's a good thing you're rich." Wave Crasher remarked.

"Yeah, but I mainly just like giving my money away to charitable organizations, unlike that mean old mare Diamond Tiara." Orchard Star said, disgusted.

"True that." Wave Crasher nodded, along with everypony else. "I'm surprised she hasn't died alone yet."

Crasher laughed until he realized something.

"Or maybe she has… has anypony checked on her recently?" he asked them, worried.

They all paused for a second before they begin to laugh at the thought.

"Now _that_ was amusing." Orchard Star remarked.

"Agreed." Ironhorn nodded.

"Seriously? That's what I have to say to get a laugh out of you guys? Your very disturbing." Crasher commented.

The others continued to laugh in amusement, aside from Johnny, who had a distant look on his face which Sunspot seemed to notice

"Hey, what's wrong with _you_?" Sunspot asked Johnny, confused. "Did you have a nightmare last night too?"

"No… why?" Johnny inquired.

"Well, we've all been having major nightmares lately…" Orchard admitted. "We didn't tell you because we didn't want you to worry…"

"Yeah, even Princess Luna has had a hard time getting rid of them." Crasher added.

"Odd…" Johnny remarked.

"Indeed, there is something troubling going on…" Ironhorn nodded. "But back to you, what is on your mind?"

Johnny's friends all looked at him expectedly, wanting to know what was on his mind. Johnny quickly began to feel the pressure and decided to tell his friends everything, since he was their leader after all.

"Guys… there's something I need to tell you all." Johnny said, as they all raised a brow.

"Tell us what?" Crasher inquired.

Johnny glanced away for a bit and sighed. "That… I'm thinking about leaving."

"Huh!?" The others all said in shock.

"Wait… _leaving_?" Orchard inquired, surprised.

"Yeah, I'm thinking I can find more answers if I go out there." Johnny confirmed.

"Go _where_, exactly?" Crasher questioned.

"A place where I can finally get some clue as to what I am." Johnny stated.

"So you just gonna _leave us_? After everything we've been through?" Sunspot questioned him, accusingly.

"Not for good! Just… until I get some real answers about myself." Johnny said. "You know whenever the subject of what I am or where I came from comes up, my Ma is always vague or dodges it completely."

"Maybe she doesn't know, or maybe… she's still trying to _protect _you." Orchard Star guessed.

"_How_? By hiding my own _past_ from me?" Johnny questioned, looking upset.

"Johnny…" Orchard began.

"Listen, it may be crazy but I got to know the truth about my life!" Johnny stated, firmly. "I'm going."

Johnny then began to walk away until Sunspot suddenly zipped over and blocked his path.

"No way! If _you're_ going, _we're_ going with you!" Sunspot declared. "Ain't that right, guys?"

"Yeah!" Wave Crasher agreed, enthusiastically.

"Of course!" Orchard Star agreed.

"Yes. I will follow you anywhere, my friend." Ironhorn nodded.

"No, it's too dangerous." Johnny stated. "Besides, this is _my_ quest. It has nothing to do with you guys, ok?"

The others all gave him a hard stare.

"And… there's no talking you guys out of this, is there?" Johnny guessed.

"Do you need to ask?" Orchard Star remarked, smiling.

"Yeah, I told you; if _you're_ going, so are we." Sunspot stated. "Besides, you know I'd never leave ya hanging."

Johnny smiled. "Thanks, you guys."

"So… which way, 'Captain'?" Orchard smiled back.

Johnny's face fell. "Uh… I'm not really sure…" he admitted, the others looked surprised by this.

"So… you didn't even know where to start looking?" Ironhorn questioned.

Johnny rubbed the back of head, embarrassed. "Uh… maybe? I'm sorry…"

"Crasher don't you _dare _make a joke about _this_ one!" Sunspot warned him, the Sea Pony still smirked but screamed when Sunspot got really close to him. "Oh, come on! I didn't even _touch_ you this time! I'm just warning you not to say any more of your lousy jokes."

"Or what? You'll _soccer _it to me?" Crasher questioned, teasingly as he held up a soccer ball to Sunspot's face. She responded to it with a kick to the face.

"You deserved _that_ one," she commented.

"Maybe we should try the Everfree Forest?" Orchard Star suggested.

"But isn't that place forbidden?" Johnny pointed out.

"Come on, it's just a forest, how bad could it be?" Sunspot pointed out.

"I don't know… I've been told that _anything_ that comes out of that forest is bad news." Crasher voice.

"Except Zecora." Ironhorn added. The others nodded in agreement.

"But why there, Orchard?" Johnny inquired.

"Well, nopony really knows what's beyond, maybe we'll find something interesting." Orchard Star pointed out. "Maybe even another world, one where you're from perhaps."

"Hope so…" Johnny confessed. "I'm getting tired of being the only _me_ in Equestria…"

"Yeah, that would stink…" Wave Crasher admitted.

"Indeed." Ironhorn agreed.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sunspot declared.

"Maybe we should tell your Mom or some of the other adults…" Orchard pointed out.

"No, if I tell her I'm doing this she'll never let me go." Johnny reasoned. "I have to do this. But if you guys wanna stay behind… I won't blame you. The last thing I want is to get you all in trouble or worse…"

"Are you crazy?" Sunspot questioned. "Of course we're coming, besides at our age we're _supposed_ to defy our parents, it's like a law or something."

"It is?" Crasher asked, surprised.

"No it isn't, but still we're going regardless." Ironhorn stated.

"Got that right." Orchard nodded.

"Ok then, let's go." Johnny declared. They all cheered in response, as they began to leave.

* * *

><p>Around the same time, Applejack had just entered the barn where Big McIntosh was working, she seemed to have a worried look on her face.<p>

"Hey uh Big Mac? have you seen Johnny?" Applejack inquired. "I haven't seen him in a while.'

"Nope," he responded.

"Hmm, strange… he said he was going to go hang with his friends… but they usually come here for a snack whenever their hungry, and it's already passed lunch time…" Applejack pointed out. Her eyes narrow. "I got a bad feeling about this…"

As she said this, the shadow that was stalking them seemed to hear her and slithered back into the darkness.

* * *

><p>Then before along, Johnny and his friends were all standing at the entrance to the scary looking Everfree Forest, which hasn't seemed to have changed even after all those years. They had all gathered a couple of things and put them in their saddle bags and hoped they would come in handy sooner than later.<p>

"Well… here it is." Johnny said.

"The Everfree Forest…" The others all said in unison.

"Where ponies go in… but they never come out! Ooh…" Sunspot finished in a spooky tone which freaked Wave Crasher out a bit, however the others were all completely unfazed.

"Knock it off." Ironhorn told her. "You are being childish Sunspot."

"Says the bison who sleeps with a _teddy bear_." Sunspot mocked him.

"That is _not_ true… Furry Freddy has his own bed… it's just next to mine…" Ironhorn said, embarrassed. They all stared at him. "Moving on."

"Alright, move out!" Johnny said as they began to head inside the Everfree Forest. Unknown to them, they were being watched by something in the shadow, or more specifically _a_ shadow. It slowly began to follow them into the forest.

* * *

><p>Later on, the five of them continued to slowly make their way through the dense and creepy looking forest and only Crasher and Orchard looked scared for their lives while the rest just trotted on ahead. They saw multiple creepy looking trees and heard various sounds from creatures that they could not identify. Eventually the two of them hear a noise and immediately freak out, causing them to jump onto the nearest pony for safety.<p>

"Crasher, let go of me, it was just the wind." Johnny told him.

Orchard Star shook in fear a bit before she noticed that she was holding onto Ironhorn, who had frozen up and was now blushing.

"Oh! Sorry about that!" she apologized as she released him.

"No problem…" he muttered, stunned.

"Ugh! Stop acting like babies you two!" Sunspot told them, annoyed.

"A baby would have cried and ran off in the opposite direction by now!" Crasher exclaimed.

"We're not going back! We've all been walking for hours!" Johnny stated, firmly.

"Let's walk _back_ a few hours! Then we can get ourselves out of this poor excuse for a dark closet once and for all!" Crasher pleaded.

"Relax! Like I said; it's just a stupid forest!" Sunspot stated. Wave Crasher then stood up straight and composed himself.

"Yeah, you're probably right, like you said; how bad could it be?" Crasher asked before all of a sudden a giant spider jumped down from out of nowhere and landed in front of them. It roared while they all screamed. "I hate this forest!"

"What do we do!?" Orchard Star shrieked.

Johnny looked up, saw a dark cloud above them and got an idea. "I got it! Sunspot! See that cloud up there?" he asked, pointing to up above them.

"Uh-huh, why?" she inquired, curiously.

"Make sure it's directly over it and then kick it, you follow me?" Johnny questioned.

"Yeah, I gotcha!" The Pegasus smirked as she flew up.

While the others continued to back up to avoid getting eaten by the spider, the yellow blur that was a Pegasus named Sunspot went up to one of the dark clouds and positioned it over the giant spider below her.

"Hey, Spider creep!" Sunspot called out. "Heads up!

The Spider looked up, saw that Sunspot was about to buck a cloud above it and got a look that said; 'Uh-oh!' on his face.

Then Sunspot kicked the cloud just like Johnny told her and a lightning bolt came down and struck the spider, electrocuting it. The others watched in amazement before it finally exploded, covering them in the spider's gooey remains, much to their disgust.

"WOW! _That_ was nice!" Wave Crasher remarked.

"Ugh! Gross! I'm gonna need to take a bath twenty times a day!" Orchard complained.

"Me too." Ironhorn nodded, solemnly.

Sunspot floated down. "Yeah… any chance you got a wet napkin in that bag of tricks there, Johnny?" she asked.

Johnny nodded slowly and took out some cloth's for them to use, which they all grabbed and began to rub themselves with it rather quickly.

* * *

><p>After the incident with the spider, the gang continued their journey through the forest, narrowly avoiding all the dangerous creatures that were around them and growing more and more exhausted<p>

"Ugh… I'm so tired…" Crasher whined.

"Not me! I can keep going!" Sunspot boasted.

"You're still a pony Sunspot, and even somepony like _you_ will get tired eventually." Ironhorn stated.

"Wow, aren't you just a little ray of sunshine?" Sunspot muttered, sarcastically.

"He's got a point Sunspot, plus I think we're all tired." Johnny said.

"Maybe we should consider camping somewhere once it gets dark." Orchard Star suggested.

"Oh! Camping! What a _great_ idea!" Sunspot remarked, her voice dripping with sarcasm again. "We can sit by the fire, and tell stories about _how we DIED_!"

"Stop being a wimp." Ironhorn told her, bluntly.

"Hey!" Sunspot protested.

"He's right, since when did you become scared of this place?" Wave Crasher questioned her.

"Since a _giant spider_ nearly _ate_ us!" Sunspot stated.

"Well, don't worry Sunspot, we're still together, still _friends_." Orchard said.

"She's right, and I do believe that the worst is behind us now." Johnny expressed. Just then, the shadow that was flowing them slithered into a crack in the ground, which Johnny noticed for a brief moment, but before he could say anything about it, a little tremor was felt beneath their hooves, surprising them.

"What was _that_?" Orchard remarked. They then heard a rumbling noise.

"Tell me that was your stomach…" Sunspot said to Ironhorn who shook his head.

"I'm sure it was just thunder… from… under… ground…" Crasher muttered, slowly as the ground beneath them began to shake, then finally split in half.

They all screamed as the two plates of earth began to split apart and unbalance them, most of the others fell and rolled down one side while Johnny rolled down the other. By the time the shaking stopped, the two pieces of rock were now a great distance away from each other.

"Guys! Are you ok!?" Johnny called out, concerned.

One the other side the rest of the group groaned as they began to stand back up and regain their composure.

"Yeah… but we're completely cut off from you." Orchard informed him. She turned to the injured Sunspot who rubbed her wing. "And Sunspot's wing is hurt, she can't fly."

"This was no earthquake…" Johnny muttered to himself.

"What was that?" Orchard inquired.

"Uh… you guys stay there, I'll try to find another way to get to you." Johnny said.

"Ok, be careful." Orchard told him. Johnny nodded and then took off.

"So? What are _we_ supposed to do?" Sunspot questioned. "Sit around here?"

"That's what Johnny told us to do." Orchard said.

"Plus we have no choice, to face the dangers of this forest we _all_ need to be together." Ironhorn stated.

"And until Johnny gets here… I'll entertain us with some jokes!" Wave Crasher declared, cheerfully.

All the color then drained from Sunspot's body as she groaned. "Ugh, just kill me now… quick… do it fast…"

* * *

><p>An hour or so later, Johnny continued his trek through the forest as he tried to find another way to reach the other's side but was continuously blocked by thick trees and dead ends. He grew frustrated as he walked down a long, grassy pathway.<p>

Johnny sighed. "Man… I have no idea how long he had been walking. Everything is starting to look the same…" he muttered. "Maybe I'll never get out.

Just then Johnny noticed a familiar blue butterfly, which he had not seen in years fly around him, which made him smile. Happy to see his old friend again.

"It's you…" he breathed. "Your back…"

The butterfly flew around him a few more times before it then began to fly off in another direction, much to his surprise.

"Hey, wait!" Johnny called out as he chased after the butterfly.

The teen rushed through the dense forest and pushed past multiple branches and leafs as he continued to chase the butterfly but eventually he lost sight of it and ended up losing it completely when he arrived on the other side. He gazed around the grassy plain.

"Where did it go?" Johnny wondered.

Just then, he heard a loud scream nearby and quickly turned his head towards it.

"What was that?" he wondered. The screamed continued. "Somepony's in trouble… maybe one of the others… better go see!"

The teen rushed over to the source of the scream and arrived at the edge of a small hill, where below he could see somepony being chased through the forest by a giant Timberwolf.

"Oh man, a timberwolf!" Johnny gasped, his eyes narrowed. "I gotta stop it before whoever that pony is gets eaten."

Johnny looked around for something to use to fight it with and found a heavy rock the size of an apple and a fallen tree branch. He smiled and grabbed them both. He then threw the rock to daze the wolf just as it cornered whatever it was that it was chasing and then he charged down the hill with branch in hand and hit it with all his might knock its jaw loose. Finally, before it could react Johnny gave it a strong kick, which, thanks to all his years Applebucking, sent it flying until it fell into a ditch and broke apart.

The fifteen-year old smirked. "All bark… not bite," he said before his face fell upon realizing what he just said. He sighed. "It seems Wave Crasher has rubbed off on me."

He then noticed the being the timberwolf was currently hiding behind a tree in front of him, he could tell because he could hear whoever it was, breathing.

"Hey, the wolf's gone now. You ok?" Johnny asked.

"I… think so…" The unknown person in front of him said, revealing to be a girl, as she began to come out from behind the tree.

"Oh, good, because…" Johnny began before he looked at who he just saved. His voice trailed off soon after that as he stared at her looking very shocked.

In front of him stood what appeared to be another creature like him, only female and approximately a year younger. She had slightly darker skin, brown hair that nearly reached her shoulders like his own and also had oddly shaped dark brown eyes. She wore a white vest with black linings over a silver colored shirt, black shorts and long black boots. She also wore black glasses.

Johnny stared at the female in shock, completely baffled and amazed that there was another creature, like him in Equestria.

"No way…" Johnny breathed, shocked.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Johnny continued to stare at the female for what seemed like forever, he was in complete shock. For the first time in his young life, he had finally met somebody who was like him, for once he wasn't alone. It was almost too good to be true for him, while outside he was stunned, inside he was bursting with happiness. The girl on the other hand, just looked baffled by his rather strange behavior.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked, still looking very confused and concerned.

"It can't be…" Johnny breathed.

"What can't be?" The girl questioned. "Who are you anyway?"

Johnny then began to circle her curiously while she looked at him strangely, he looked down her front and back and poked her a bit.

"Uh… what are you doing?" she asked him, confused. "Haven't you heard of personal space?"

"Your… you're like… me…" Johnny said, completely stunned.

"Uh… why are you looking at me like that?" The girl asked. She looked around. "And where are we, anyway?"

"We're in Equestria." Johnny replied.

"Equestria? What's that?" Alyssa questioned.

"The name of his country, it's where I was raised." Johnny said.

"You were raised here?" Alyssa inquired, surprised.

"Yep." Johnny nodded.

"By who?"

"Well, her name is Applejack." Johnny replied.

"Applejack?" Alyssa repeated, confused. "What kind of name is that?"

"A family name." Johnny shrugged. "Everypony in the Apple Family has a name involving Apples in some way."

"Apple Family? Everypony?" Alyssa echoed. "What are you talking about? Who talks like that, anyway?"

"Everypony in this world I suppose." Johnny replied, shrugging.

"Ok… I'm starting to think 'pony' is _key_ here…" Alyssa mused, suspiciously.

"It is, a lot of the inhabitants here are ponies." Johnny told her.

"Right…" Alyssa said, clearly unconvinced.

"What is… your name…?" Johnny asked, slowly.

"Alyssa. Alyssa Tao." The girl answered. "What's yours?"

"Mine's Johnny. Johnny Appleseed." The boy replied.

"Johnny Appleseed?" Alyssa repeated, surprised.

"Yeah, that's my name." Johnny confirmed.

"Very odd name…" Alyssa remarked.

"It's a family name." Johnny shrugged. "My _adopted_ family, anyway."

"Ah, the 'Apple Family'." Alyssa said, with a nonbelieving smile.

"Hey… why do you use air quote when you say 'Apple Family'?" Johnny questioned, suspiciously.

"Because it's obvious your making this up?" Alyssa said, as if it was completely obvious.

"But I'm not." Johnny protested.

"Don't play dumb!" Alyssa told him. "Just tell me what's going on here already! Now!"

"I don't know! I found _you_! How'd you get here anyway? Why were you being chased by a Timberwolf?" Johnny questioned.

"Timberwolf?" Alyssa asked, confused.

"That thing that attacked you, you're welcome by the way." Johnny said.

"Oh! Thank you." Alyssa bowed, gratefully. "You saved me from that… illusion or… mirage… or… big dog or… whatever it was."

"I told you; it's a Timberwolf. A wolf made entirely out of wood." Johnny stated.

Alyssa blinked. "No seriously, what was that?" she asked.

"Uh… never mind…" Johnny said, rubbing between his eyes. "So… we're the same species… right?"

"Well… different genders, but yes." Alyssa confirmed, nodding. Johnny looked relieved by this.

"I have so many questions… like… where do I come from? What am I?" Johnny questioned.

"We come from a planet called Earth, we're humans." Alyssa told him.

"Humans?" Johnny repeated.

"Yeah, think of us as… highly evolved apes." Alyssa shrugged. "Do they have monkey's here?"

Johnny nodded. "Yes."

"And do they talk too?" Alyssa added, doubtfully.

"No, only creatures with hooves can." Johnny explained.

"Of course." Alyssa said, dryly.

"You don't sound convinced…" Johnny observed.

"Of course I'm not! Because this is not real." Alyssa stated.

"It's not?" Johnny asked, confused.

"Yeah, this is obviously some kind of… coma dream or something." Alyssa said. "I mean giant wolves made out of _wood_? It's just not possible in real life."

"Maybe not on _Earth_, but here in Equestria…" Johnny began.

"Stop it! You too are just another part of this dream." Alyssa told him.

"If that's true then how can I touch you?" Johnny questioned her.

"I don't know… _yet_, but this is a very elaborate dream, I can tell you that." Alyssa expressed.

"Hmm, if you think it's a dream, maybe you should see Princess Celestia or Luna." Johnny suggested.

"Princess who and who?" Alyssa questioned, confused.

"They're the monarchs of this land." Johnny replied.

"Monarchs?" Alyssa echoed. Johnny nodded. "Odd… usually royal figures where we come from are just old _figureheads_ not almighty _rulers_."

"Wow! That's amazing!" Johnny gasped.

"Not really…" Alyssa said, slowly.

"To _me_ it is, this the first time I've heard about stuff from my world. I've _always_ wanted to know what I was and where I was from, I'm telling you, it was eating me up inside, ever since I came here as a baby." Johnny expressed. Alyssa's eyes then lit up upon remembering something.

"You know… I think I do know you now." Alyssa realized. "Yeah… I heard about a famous pair of scientists who lost their son in a terrible lab accident recently…"

"Their son?" Johnny repeated, surprised.

"Yeah, it's all in my father's book here." Alyssa said as she took out a little book from her white handbag. Johnny's eyes widened.

"What does it say?" Johnny asked, interested.

Alyssa flipped through the book. "Well, fifteen years ago Dr. Richard and Elizabeth Lyons were working on a project with several other scientists to create a portal that would allow them to transport items from one place to another," she explained. "But something went wrong, and their son, Cole, was sucked through the portal right before it collapsed on itself."

"And _Cole_? That's_ my_ name?" Johnny asked, with a bit of a smile.

"Cole Lyons, yes." Alyssa nodded.

"Cole Lyons…" Johnny echoed, slowly. "Well, butter my biscuit. Who'd a thunk it?"

"First time hearing a normal sounding name here?" Alyssa questioned.

"Something like that." Johnny admitted. "But everypony's names here seem normal to _me_."

"Well, you have been isolated from humans for fifteen years now so it's really no surprise to me." Alysa said.

"But wait… why are me and my parents written in that book?" Johnny questioned.

"Right, well this is my father's book, he was also on the project but he didn't give up on it. He gathered a new team, and tried it again only _I'm _the one who opened it and went through. I wanted to prove to my father that I'm not as helpless as he thinks I am." Alyssa explained.

"I feel you." Johnny expressed, sympathetically.

"You do?" Alyssa asked, surprised.

Johnny nodded. "Yeah, my Mom can be a bit protective at times."

"Your _adopted_ Mom?" Alyssa corrected.

"Eeyup." Johnny confirmed.

"Well, I guess I didn't get through since I'm dreaming right now." Alyssa said, disappointed. "Won't _my_ Dad be disappointed?"

"But you're not dreaming! Listen to me!" Johnny urged her as he put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off

"No! I refuse to believe any of this is real! It goes against everything I stand for it…" Alyssa began before she began shivering like crazy.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Johnny inquired, concerned.

"It's weird… ever since I got here I sometimes feel all... tingly. Like something's try to go right through me…" Alyssa breathed.

"That's the magic." Johnny said. "See, if you just believe it then you'll…"

"There's no such thing as magic!" Alyssa told him, firmly. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

Alyssa turned and then began to walk off on her own.

"Where are you going?" Johnny inquired.

"To try and get a signal." Alyssa said, as she continued to fiddle with the device in her hand. "I haven't been able to get one since I came here."

"Signal?" Johnny repeated, totally confused.

"Yeah, phone signal." Alyssa said, holding up the device. Johnny just blinked, confused. "Oh, never mind.. see ya."

Alyssa then walked off to a different part of the forest while Johnny watched her go looking upset and conflicted.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, at the spot where Johnny told them to wait for him, the four friends were all waiting patiently for him to return. Well, Ironhorn and Orchard Star anyway, Sunspot was currently and slowly losing her mind thanks to Wave Crasher's non-stop bad jokes<p>

"Ok, ok, ok, here's another one! What's a chimney sweeps most common ailment?" Crasher inquired, eagerly. Nopony answered for a bit until he spoke up. "The flue!"

Crasher started laughing out loud while the rest groaned and Sunspot screamed in frustration.

"Ugh, jeez! What's taking Johnny so long!?" Sunspot complained. "I swear if I have to hear _one more joke_ from Crasher's mouth…"

Crasher prepares to open his mouth but a death glare from Sunspot quickly makes him stop.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon…" Orchard said, hopefully.

"Guys!" They heard Johnny cry out.

"Johnny?" They said, as they turned around and saw their non-pony friend on top of a hill close by.

"See? What did I tell you?" The unicorn remarked, proudly.

The fifteen-year old human then jumped down and landed right in front of them.

"Where have you _been_!?" Sunspot remarked.

"Yeah, we missed you!" Wave Crasher told him.

"Ah, I've missed you too. Listen, I got news." Johnny said.

"What is it, Jonathan?" Ironhorn inquired.

After a minute or two of explaining what happened, the others were all greatly shocked by what they had just heard from their non-pony friend.

"Another creature like _you_!?" Sunspot exclaimed.

"Another _human_." Johnny corrected. "That's the name of my species apparently… and she's female."

"Cool! She hot?" Crasher inquired. Orchard nudged him in response.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Sunspot nodded.

"What is her name?" Ironhorn questioned, curiously.

"Alyssa Tao." Johnny answered.

"How did she get here?" The bison added.

"Same way I did; through a portal my parents created." Johnny replied.

"Your _parents_?" Orchard echoed, shocked.

Johnny nodded. "Yeah, they're names are Richard and Elizabeth, _mine_ is apparently Cole."

"Wow, that's weird name." Wave Crasher remarked.

"Oh, like _your_ one to talk, 'Wave Crasher'." Sunspot mocked. The Sea Pony just scowled.

"So? What's she like?" Orchard inquired.

"Hard to say… she's a little hard to get to know, and she refuses to believe any of this is real." Johnny said.

"Well, _she_ sounds fun." Sunspot remarked, sarcastically.

"She's in denial." Johnny stated.

"I see…" Ironhorn nodded.

"Sounds like it." Orchard Star agreed.

"On the bright side, I now know who parents are, where I'm from and my _real_ name!" Johnny said, excitedly. "I finally got some answers!"

"Wow, Johnny! That's great!" Orchard Star smiled.

Ironhorn nodded. "Indeed. I am happy for you."

"Thank you." Johnny nodded, gratefully.

"Where's she now?" Sunspot asked.

"She headed off to 'get a signal' or whatever that means." Johnny shrugged.

"You know… the longer she stays out there the more likely she will get into trouble again." Ironhorn told him.

"Hmm… your right, I'm gonna go try to find her again." Johnny declared as he began to leave.

"Wait, _why_?" Sunspot questioned. "From what I here, she doesn't want anything to do with you _or_ us _or_ Equestria."

Johnny turned to her. "She's also the best chance I have of getting more answers. I _need_ to know more about my species' history."

Orchard nodded. "We understand, Johnny."

Johnny nodded and then began to leave.

"Yeah, go talk to her, maybe you'll even get a date!" Wave Crasher said, smiling. The human did a double take as he turned to him.

"Date!?" Johnny said, looking somewhat freaked out.

"He's just teasing, aren't you Wave Crasher?" Orchard asked Crasher, sternly. The others also glared at him. He chuckled, nervously.

"Yeah… teasing…" he said, slowly.

"Ok, be back soon." Johnny told them as he ran off before leaping back into the forest.

"There he goes…" Orchard sighed.

"Yeah, off he goes to probably ditch us for somepony of his kind." Sunspot grumbled, cynically.

"Don't be like that, Sunspot." Orchard Star scolded her

"Yeah, no need to be so negative about it, Sunspot. Negativity just guarantee's failure" Wave Crasher agreed. "Johnny just got himself some much needed answers, let him enjoy it and be positive."

"Right." Ironhorn nodded.

"Fine, whatever." Sunspot grumbled.

"Speaking of positivity…" Crasher began before Sunspot knocked him out.

Sunspot sighed. "I've been waiting to do that for hours!"

"Hey, maybe he was going to tell a good joke." Orchard Star guessed.

"Yes, now _that_ is thinking positively." Ironhorn agreed.

"Right…" Sunspot said, sarcastically. "I just hope Johnny knows what he's getting into with this girl."

They all looked in the direction Johnny took off in, each of them thinking the same thing Sunspot just said.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Alyssa was in a more peaceful and less dangerous part of the forest studying and writing down every interesting thing should find, until she spotted a little white bunny hop over to her and she smiled a warm smile.<p>

"Aw, how cute!" Alyssa said as she stroked the bunny's fur. "This sure feels real… then again… maybe it _is_…"

"Hey! Alyssa!"

Alyssa turned around and much to surprise she saw Johnny jumping from a high place and landing near her. She then stood up.

"Cole! You found me!" Alyssa remarked.

"Just call me Johnny." The fifteen-year old told her.

"But Cole Lyons… that's your real name." Alyssa pointed out.

"Well, here I'm Johnny Appleseed, a member of the Apple Family. This is where I was raised, this is my home, not Earth." Johnny stated, firmly.

"Whatever… how did you find me anyway?" Alyssa questioned.

"I've gotten good at tracking things since I've been here, along with Applebucking and every other farm chore you can think of." Johnny explained, shrugging.

"Hmm, very impressive." Alyssa admitted, as they both sat down together on the grass.

"I see you've taken a liking to these 'figments of your imagination'." Johnny noted.

"Well… based on my latest hypothesis, it seems that this _isn't_ a dream." Alyssa stated. "But _wherever_ we are, it's _not_ magical."

"You keep telling yourself that." Johnny told her, amused.

"Thank you. I will." Alyssa nodded, pleased.

"You know… during my early days here growing up because I had no friends and didn't know who I was I spent all my time alone, I barely spoke to _anypony_." Johnny expressed. "My only 'friends' were the animals that surround us. I still had adopted family though… but it was still pretty rough."

"Oh… I'm sorry… I had no idea…" Alyssa said, sympathetically.

"It's not your fault." Johnny assured her.

"Well… you can't say you're the only human here anymore, can you?" Alyssa pointed out.

"Yeah… I always thought I was alone…" Johnny admitted.

"You're not alone." Alyssa told him, gently. "Cole… I mean Johnny… you're not alone."

Johnny smiled. "Thank you. And by the way… you can call me whatever you wish. Johnny Appleseed, Cole Lyons, it doesn't matter. There both part of who I am, I'm just gonna have to accept that," he said.

"If you say so." Alyssa nodded, looking understanding.

"Hey, wanna meet my friends?" Johnny offered.

"I don't know… I don't really do 'friends'…" Alyssa confessed. "To be honest I'm not good in social gathering of any kind."

"But why not?" Johnny asked, baffled. "I was always taught that friends were the best things in the world."

"That's not what _I_ was taught growing up." Alyssa sighed.

"Oh… well… what were _you_ taught?" Johnny asked her, curiously.

"That knowledge was power and in order to gain more knowledge and understand the world better we must _detach_ ourselves from the world, remove all earthly tethers so that our spirits could be free." Alyssa replied.

"But how can you expect to _help_ humanity, if you've never been _a part_ of it?" Johnny pointed out.

Alyssa looked a bit conflicted by what he said. "What about you? I'm sure your childhood wasn't all fun either, leaving with just 'ponies' after all"

"It was… difficult, yes, but I didn't let it crush my spirit. Plus I had my family and my friends, they helped. As far as I can tell, all you've had are _teachers_. There's a difference, Alyssa." Johnny stated. He then started talking a bit dramatically. "But don't worry! All you have to do is put your faith in me and the magic of friendship will guide you!"

Alyssa looked at him blank faced. "Uh-huh…" she said, sarcastically. "By the way, who are these 'friends' of yours."

"A Pegasus, a Unicorn, a Bison and a Sea Pony." Johnny answered, casually.

"Ok then… so… how about I go to town and get some _very nice men_ with a _very big net_." Alyssa said with a fake smile, which Johnny saw clearly.

"Ah! I get it, you don't believe me." Johnny smiled.

"Clearly." The girl said, deadpan.

"How about I _prove _it?" Johnny offered.

"_That_ I'd like to see." Alyssa nodded.

"Ok, follow me." Johnny said, as he began to walk off. Looking curious, Alyssa begins to follow him into the forest.

* * *

><p>As the two humans made their way to the others, Orchard was still tending to Sunspot's injured wing while Wave Crasher and Ironhorn watched from afar.<p>

"How's your wing?" Orchard inquired.

Sunspot flexed it a bit. "Better, thanks," she said, gratefully.

"No problem." Orchard smiled.

"You make an excellent nurse, Orchard Star." Ironhorn told her. Orchard smiled and blushed in response.

"And _you_ Sunspot make an excellent patient, so quiet… so non-violent…" Wave Crasher sighed, blissfully.

"Oh I'm gonna get violent soon and when I do I'm coming after you…" Sunspot warned him.

"Enough! I think hear them coming." Orchard said, as she listened very closely.

"Hey, guys!"

They all turned and saw Johnny approaching them along with Alyssa.

"I'd like you to meet Alyssa. Alyssa, these are my friends." Johnny told her.

Alyssa looked forward and her eyes widened when she saw an actual Unicorn, Pegasus, Bison and a Sea Pony, who all looked very much intelligent and totally contradicted what she was thinking before. Her mind was filled with dozens of questions till Wave Crasher suddenly interrupted her train of thought.

"Hi! How you doing?" The Sea Pony asked.

This then became too much for Alyssa and caused to faint.

Crasher blinked as he stared at the unconscious Alyssa. "Was it something I said?" he inquired.

"It's _always_ something you say, Wave Crasher." Sunspot stated.

The five of them all loomed over her, curiously.

"Is she gonna be ok?" Johnny asked Orchard who tended to her.

"She'll be fine, she just needs some rest." Orchard said.

"Maybe singing her a song will help her!" Crasher suggested.

"She said she needs _rest_, not a _migraine_." Sunspot told him, bluntly.

"I just hope we can convince her about all this when she wakes up." Johnny confessed.

"And if she doesn't?" Ironhorn inquired.

Johnny looked at her again. "Then we have a problem," he said while they continue to gaze down upon her, their heads practically coming together like a puzzle.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: This chapter uses bits of inspiration and references from various forms of media that I like, admire and honor but I do not own them. This is not for profit, it is merely for fun. No flames please and thank you. BTW to those reading this, fanfiction writer ghost of fantasy says that he approves of my stories and wanted me to tell you all flamers and haters that you are all dummies FYI that's a much nicer version of what he would have really said.<strong>


End file.
